The (Un)Usual Suspect
by AmazingLadar
Summary: The Psych duo jump into a double murder case with no leads, no suspects, and no murder weapon alongside Santa Barbara's finest. Meanwhile, Shawn finds himself getting emotionally invested in a young boy taking refuge in the Psych office looking for his father. Set around season 3, rated K because I don't THINK I swear much, but if I do I'll change it.
1. Psychic on the Case

**Hello lovelys! So I've had a very long hiatus, haven't I? firstly haven't posted a psychfic in years, and secondly haven't posted, well, anything in months! This should be complete by the time I've posted this and it should be 15 chapters.**

 **This originally was supposed to be a COMPLETELY different story, but this little plot bunny wouldn't leave me, so here I am! It will be set in around season 3, probably post Talk Derby to me, but it's not like it has a definitive time period. So one sided shules, no known secret, just back to basics. Anyways, I hope you like it, please review!**

 **So, I've decided to do something with this fic. Author's note just in bold is the notes I've written while writing the story, notes underlined are notes I've written while uploading. I'll try to keep it short!**

* * *

The day had started just like any other day for Psychic Detective Shawn Spencer. It was fairly hot, no unusual for a winter day in California. Shawn was on his motorbike driving through the streets to get to the Psych office. He and his partner, Gus, had decided to take a couple days pause after having had so many long and stressful cases. Now that their pause was over, Shawn was eager to return to work. Gus on the other hand was perhaps a bit more hesitant, and so it was no surprise that Shawn was first to arrive at the office, noticed by the distinct lack of a 'blueberry' parked outside. Shawn shook his head as he dismounted his bike. He unclipped his helmet as he walked towards the door. To the pseudo-psychic's horror, the door was already open when he approached it.

Shawn stared at the door, it was only open a crack. His immediate thought was that he had forgotten to lock the door the last time he was there, but he immediately dismissed that thought. Yes, perhaps at times Shawn was a bit scatterbrained – certainly no one at the station would put forgetting to lock the door past Shawn – but he knew he hadn't done that. So his next presumption was that someone had broken in. He knew he should be afraid, after all a murderer could be behind those doors, but Shawn felt oddly calm. He cautiously entered the office and did a quick sweep of the office. He could see nothing out of place so with a shrug of his shoulders, he moved moved to his desk. He immediately opted not to tell Gus any of this, figuring his friend would simply overreact.

Several hours passed by without incident. Shawn had received several texts from Gus, explaining that he was busy with his route. Shawn complained but ultimately, with no imminent case, there was little to be done. Shawn was just about to call it a day when he heard a sneeze coming from behind him. He jumped out of his chair and quickly turned around. The only thing behind him was a closet. Shawn remained silent and listened intensely and could only faintly hear breathing. Chills ran up Shawn's spine and for a moment he was scared. He had to reason with himself quickly; he had been in the office for hours, after all. If his intruder wanted to hurt him they would have done so already.

Just then the phone ringed. Refusing to take his eyes off the closet, Shawn reached for the phone on his desk.

"Shawn Spencer, psychic detective, how can I help you?" he answered.

' _Mr. Spencer,'_ Chief Karen Vick's voice said on the other end. _'We have a case that we would like your assistance on. That is… if you and Mr. Guster are finished with your break?'_

"You know it, Chief. Psych is back on the market and the spirits, particularly, are keen to impress," Shawn assured her.

' _Great,'_ Chief Vick said, opting to ignore Shawn's psychic talk. _'I want you both at the station in fifteen minutes for a debrief. Does that sound reasonable?'_

"Like four types of cheeses on chili fries."

The chief hesitated on the phone. _'Good,'_ she said at last, though she sounded unsure. _'We'll see you soon then.'_

Shawn said a quick goodbye and hung up the phone. He continued to stare at the closet, still debating what to do. Finally, after a few seconds of thinking, he decided. He fished his cell phone out of his pocket and called Gus. His friend picked up after two rings.

"Hey! Gus, buddy, chief wants us at the department in fifteen minutes. We've got a case!"

' _Oddly enough, good timing,'_ Gus said, strangely calm and willing to go along with the scam. _'A couple clients cancelled last minute anyways.'_

"Glad Psych is always your number one priority, man," Shawn said with a smile. "Hey, listen, you think you could pick me up. I'm just at the Psych office."

' _Yeah, I guess so. You_ are _on the way. I'll be there in five minutes.'_

"Cool, see you in five," and with that, he hung up the phone. Shawn tucked his phone back into his phone and looked back up at the closet door. "Whoever is here," Shawn announced to the closet. "I have no problem with you. You haven't done anything to me, I can't notice anything missing, and I know damn well you didn't steal money because we don't have any here. I'm going to the bathroom. When I finish, I'm walking out and locking the doors. I suggest you be gone by the then." And with that, Shawn did exactly as he said he would.

Shawn stayed in the bathroom for exactly four minutes before walking back out. He noticed the closet door slightly open, certainly more so than it was when he had gone to the bathroom. Shawn nodded his head and inspected the building one more time. Nothing was missing, nothing was where it shouldn't be. So Shawn checked the back door was locked, walked out of the front door, and locked that too, before waiting for his friend to pick him up.

* * *

Shawn and Gus arrived at the police department three minutes late. Chief Vick met them at the entrance and did not look impressed. That was the first hint that the case they were being called into was not just a standard one. Shawn and Gus exchanged a glance but followed the chief as she led them to her office. Inside, detectives Carlton Lassiter and Juliet O'Hara were sitting down.

"Oh, sweet lady justice, Chief, did you have to call in tweedle-dee and tweedle-dum?" Detective Lassiter asked, his usual scowl particularly strong.

"Carlton," Juliet warned. In just one look, Shawn could immediately tell that she was stressed. Her beautiful blonde hair was pulled tightly back and he knew she hadn't had the time to shower in a while. Plus, if those bags under her eyes were anything to go by, she wasn't finding enough time for sleep either.

"Chief, O'Hara and I can handle this! We're already have a couple leads – "

"Lassiter, it hasn't even been a week and there's already another body! I'll take all the help I can get, and so should you," Chief Vick interrupted. Lassiter folded his arms in annoyance, whereas Juliet just looked relieved.

"So, what's up, chief?" Shawn asked, trying to get into the loop.

"Shouldn't you already know that, _psychic_?" Lassiter asked with venom.

"Lassie, Gus and I, along with the spirits, have been on a break. We'll need a second to regroup, but worry not! We're still sharp as a truck!"

"Sharp as a tack, Shawn," Gus corrected.

"What?" Shawn asked

"The expression. It's sharp as a tack."

"Well that just doesn't make any sense. Tacks aren't very sharp. Plus, they're short."

"And how does sharp as a _truck_ make sense?"

"Well, get the right truck, and you'll be _looking_ pretty sharp – "

"Gentlemen," Chief Vick interrupted. "Can this wait?" Lassiter shot her a look, the idiots in the office proving his point. The chief waved him off.

"Right, the case," Shawn moved on. Suddenly he gasped and his hand flew to his head, his middle finger resting on his temple. "There was a murder that took place last night… it involved the neck; strangled victim?"

"Please," Lassiter muttered, rolling his eyes.

"No, that's not right… I'm seeing blood, lots of blood pouring out…" with another gasp, Shawn opened his eyes and moved his hand back down. "Our vic was stabbed in the neck."

"Gruesome," Gus commented, but he also already heard of the case having seen the news report this morning, as he assumed Shawn had done. They had speculated on the news that it was connected to a similar crime committed a week ago.

"Yes, that's right," the chief said. She pulled out a file and handed it to Shawn, speaking as she did, "Her name was Sofia Swanson-Brookes. She was found dead in her bed this morning at 5:32 by her neighbour who noticed her front door was open. Her husband of two years, Richard Brookes, was found dead in his office five days ago, also stabbed in his neck, the difference being his murder weapon was hidden in plain sight, Sofia's was not. As of this moment, we are still looking for Sofia's murder weapon."

"And we're sure they're connected?" Gus asked.

"Come on, Guster, use your brain," Lassiter retorted, already fed up with the duo on the case. "Richard Brookes found dead stabbed in the neck and five days later his wife is found murdered the same way? That's too much of a coincidence, don't you think?"

The others stared at Lassiter for a second. That level of talking down and malice was usually reserved specially for Shawn, rarely did the head detective turn on Gus. Juliet offered an apologetic smile, but other than that did nothing. This was clearly a tough case.

"Any suspects?" Shawn asked, moving on.

"None that count anymore," Lassiter grumbled.

"What Carlton means is that all of our suspects had motive to kill Richard, but none to kill Sofia," Juliet explained. "Either that or they were under surveillance when Sofia's murder took place."

"Ah, so we're back to square one," Shawn noted. Juliet nodded sadly.

"Woah, wait, what's this?" Gus asked, reading ahead in the file. "Their son is missing?"

"Not their son, Sofia's son," Juliet explained. "From her first marriage. And according to the neighbours, he's not _entirely_ missing. They keep saying he's with his Aunt Maria. The problem is he doesn't _have_ an Aunt Maria."

"So you think he's kidnapped?" Shawn asked, not understanding why they weren't more concerned.

"No, the neighbours say he's been at his Aunt's house for over a week, definitely before any of the murders took place," Juliet said. "And he's been to this Aunt's many times before in the past, so she's certainly not a stranger. Regardless of that, we need to find him. He's only eight and his parents are dead."

"What about his biological father?" Shawn asked. "Maybe he knows where the son is."

"Unlikely. He's been in jail for the past four years, for domestic abuse. He's responsible for several hospital visits made by Sofia _and_ her son, Daniel. He's on parole now, let out just over a month ago for good behaviour. Sofia filed a restraining order for herself and Daniel the minute she found out."

"Well maybe he's our killer, then. There's definite motive there, trying to get his kid back?"

"We've had him in the interrogation room all day. His alibi checks out."

"Okay, so, square one with no suspects, no murder weapon, two dead bodies, and a missing eight year old boy…" Shawn looked up at Juliet, who had pressed her lips into a tight, stressed out tight line, her eyes apologetic and desperate. Shawn offered her a reassuring smile, "Nothing a psychic can't handle."


	2. Murder Weapon

**Hello lovelys!**

 **Every time I sit down to write I become more and more aware of how slow of a start this has. Hopefully you'll find it picks up! Anyways, please let me know what you think, drop a review!**

 **Thanks for the support so far guys! Reviews make my day, so please continue! Also happy (belated) new year everyone!**

* * *

Shawn and Gus returned to the Psych office after their briefing with the chief. They sat down at their desks and looked into the file, analysing every detail. It was already five pm when they arrived at the office and they knew they wouldn't be able to get much physical work done. So with Juliet promising to take them to the crime scene the next day, they decided to use their time getting familiar with the case. The more they looked into the case, the more they understood just what kind of man Sofia's ex husband was.

Edward Lynne was married to Sofia Swanson for six years. In those six years, Sofia had accumulated four broken bones, five incidents of bruised ribs, a total of thirty seven stitches, and an uncountable number of bruises. It wasn't until Daniel turned four and had his third hospital visit that Sofia had finally decided to tell the police, even then only after the paediatrician taking care of her son had urged her to. Edward and Sofia split up, the court sending Edward to jail for six years. His lawyer had done well, using Sofia's fake explanation for all of her hospital visits in court. They even blamed many of Daniel's injuries on her, stating that Sofia had neglected to care for her son. It was hard for Sofia to argue against her own words, even though she knew she had only said them at the time out of fear. In addition to Edward's sentencing, Sofia suddenly found herself under fire as social services wanted to take Daniel away from her for endangering his life. It had taken a year and a half for Sofia to convince them that she could take care of her son, and she was once again granted full custody on the condition that she was visited by a social worker every month. That rule was implemented for two years, ending just after Daniels' seventh birthday.

Sofia and Richard were married for two years and three months before their deaths. Richard worked for a sound system company that was recently finding itself going bankrupt. Richard had to fire many people as the company was having cuts, which is what led Detectives Lassiter and O'Hara to most of their suspects. While they may have held grudges against Richard, they certainly had no reason to kill Sofia, certainly not after they had already killed Richard.

In addition to everything they had learnt about Edward, Richard, and Sofia, Shawn and Gus couldn't find a single mention of an Aunt Maria. In fact, the only Aunt they could find at all was Aunt Becca, Edward's estranged sister who didn't even know of Sofia's existence. Richard had two older brothers whereas Sofia was an only child. So, they assumed Maria was a good friend that Daniel referred to as aunt, but even then there was no mention of a Maria. That lead the psychic duo to really worry about the young boy; where the hell was he?

Shawn and Gus called it a day when the clock suddenly showed that it was eight at night. They left the Psych office together, with the plan for Gus to pick Shawn up from his house before going together to the crime scene. Juliet would show them around and talk them through what they had found so far and hopefully then they'd have some leads.

Gus climbed into his car as Shawn locked up, waving his hand as he drove off. Shawn returned the wave and turned to his bike. He climbed on and drove home, eager to eat dinner and go to sleep. He had a feeling that this was going to be one hell of a case.

* * *

Shawn and Gus arrived at the crime scene at nine o'clock sharp. Juliet was already there waiting for them. Lassiter was at the crime scene, barking unnecessary orders at the forensics team, a clear sign that he was stressed. As the two stepped out of the blue car, Juliet threw them a grateful smile and walked over to them. The bags under her eyes had lessened and Shawn was pleased to realise that meant she got a good night's sleep. The psychic quickly shook that thought out of his head; this was _not_ the time to be thinking like that!

"You guys are on time!" Juliet exclaimed happily. Gus smiled and turned to Shawn, waiting for his usual arrogant response that would make him roll his eyes.

"We promised, didn't we?" Shawn said with a smile, surprising both the blonde detective and his friend. No witty response?

"Yeah, you did, I just…" Juliet shook her head, dropping the subject. She turned towards the house, motioning for the two to follow her, and she caught them up on the developments. "The autopsy report came through this morning," Juliet explained. "Unlike Richard, Sofia died in her sleep. There were absolutely _zero_ signs of struggle, not even any sign that the lock of the front door had been broken. There were no drugs in Sofia's system either. So either Sofia left her front door open ready for an attack, or – " the three of them approached the yellow crime scene tape.

"Or Sofia let her attacker in," Shawn finished for her.

Juliet turned to Shawn, "Exactly," she said. She then ducked under the tape, Shawn and Gus following behind her. "Not to mention she'd have to be comfortable enough around them to go to sleep with them in the house," Juliet continued as they finished their short walk to the front door of the house. "There's still no sign of the murder weapon either. We've searched the entire bedroom and came up empty handed. CSI are now searching the rest of the house but we're not coming up with much."

"So you want me to look around, see if I can get any psychic feel for the knife?" Shawn asked.

"We _need_ that murder weapon. We're coming up to so many dead ends right now, we could really use a lead," Juliet said.

"Jules, don't you worry your precious head. The spirits and I are more in tune then we have ever been before. We will find that murder weapon," Shawn assured her. Juliet smiled gratefully and opened her mouth to say more, but her partner screaming out her name stopped her in her tracks. She let out an exasperated breath, but turned to find Lassiter.

"That was a lot to promise," Gus commented quietly.

"What?"

"You promised to find the murder weapon. You really think you can?"

"Gus, please. You saw the pictures of Richard's crime scene. He tried to hide the knife in the drawer. God only knows why this wacko is so desperate to hide the murder weapon rather than the body, but that's what he does. It's his MO, he's not going to suddenly change that. He might get a little _better_ at hiding it, but no way is he going to just altogether stop. No, the murder weapon is in this house."

Gus sighed, "I hope you're right about this."

They searched the house for an hour, Shawn opting to take more in about the Brookes rather than trying to find the murder weapon. For a house with an eight year old, he found that it lacked any sign that a child lived there. No toys messily tossed around the room, no children's books in the shelves, the fridge was missing any of the usual childish delights, even what was supposedly the kid's room looked bare. Just a single bed, a closet, desk, and mirror. Shawn recalled the social service's case on Sofia and started to understand why she was under investigation. She may not have abused her son, but it wasn't like Daniel had much of a childhood living with her.

Shawn shook the thought out of his head. Whether or not Daniel enjoyed living in this house was besides the point. His mother and step father were dead and he was currently missing. When they finally found the young boy he certainly wasn't going to be coming back to this house, and maybe that was for the best.

The search continued, Shawn occasionally catching a glance from a very desperate Juliet. It was her and only her that made the psychic realise he should focus his efforts on keeping his promise. With that thought in mind, Shawn went up the stairs to Sofia's bedroom, where her body had been found. He stood over the bed and closed his eyes, imagining what he would have done. He immediately thought of the possibility that the murder weapon was in the nightstand drawers, but those had already been searched. The next place to come to mind was the closet. He opened his eyes, turned, and opened the doors to the closet. All the clothes were pushed to the left, leaving enough space for a person to hide in. Other than that, the closet was clean. As Shawn closed the closet doors again, he made a mental note to tell Juliet about his theory. No doubt forensics noticed the state of the closet, but perhaps they didn't put two and two together - another sign of a stressful case. Shawn walked towards the window, at this point almost as desperate as the detectives around him. He noticed that the window was open with the screen removed. He narrowed his eyes at that. All the other windows had a bug screen and were shut tightly, which made sense as there were fans all over the house which were reportedly left on twenty-four-seven. So why would the window in the one room where someone was sleeping be open?

Shawn peaked out of the window, but could see nothing immediately out of place. He payed closer attention, but all he could notice was that the neighbours immediately to the left were having an intense argument, while the neighbours across the street were happily enjoying the sun, trying to get a tan in the front yard. Shawn shook his head, ready to accept that he was coming up empty, when he finally noticed it. He had only glanced down, but he could see it immediately from this angle. There was a rose bush directly under the window and along the side of the house. Several of the stems in the back were bent down, and that was only the case directly under the window. Shawn's eyes widened as he realised what must have happened. The killer had tossed the knife out the window and into the rose bush!

"Oh!" Shawn yelled out, his hands flying to his head. "Oh, sweet Gods of holy fruit! Visions are coming to ME!"

Having successfully gathered the attention of most of the CSI's and hearing people running towards the bedroom, Shawn continued to swirl around. He only barely caught sight of Gus rolling his eyes.

"Shawn, what's going on?"

"I'm feeling… trapped, constricted! I'm locked away!"

"You should be locked away," Lassiter grumbled.

"No, I'm not seeing a prison," Shawn corrected.

"What are you seeing Shawn?" Juliet asked urgently.

"I'm starting to feel claustrophobic," Shawn continued twirling. "I'm where most gay people are!"

"The closet!" Juliet exclaimed. Shawn snapped out of it.

"Yes!"

"Is that where the murder weapon is?"

"No, but it may have once held something more sinister."

Juliet opened the closet door and stared in shock. "Carlton," she called for her partner. Lassiter approached the closet and took in the sight.

"Looks like someone hid in the closet," he deduced "I'll get CSI to do a sweep."

"Oh, I'm seeing something else!" Shawn yelled. Juliet spun around and her attention was focused on the pseudo psychic.

"What is it Shawn?"

" _Double double, toil and trouble_ , wait no, that's not right. Ah! _I am not what I am_ – No, still not right! _Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo!"_

"Shakespeare!" Gus exclaimed. "They have a bookshelf downstairs filled with classics."

"That's a good catch buddy, but not quite!" Shawn rushed out. "By any other name I'd smell just as sweet!"

"Roses!" Julie exclaimed. "There's a rose bush along the side of the house!"

"Yes!" Shawn exclaimed. He pretended to collapse on to Gus, who was now standing nearby. "That's where you'll find the murder weapon," he said with a drained voice.

"Oh, come on," Lassiter started, ever the sceptic. "Are you really going to – O'Hara!" The junior detective, along with three men in uniform, quickly ran out of the room. Lassiter turned to glare at Shawn and Gus.

"Hey man," Shawn started to defend himself, still putting on the act of a drained man. "I can't control what the spirits decide to show me." Lassiter glared harder then walked out of the room.

* * *

After the police department had found the murder weapon and were informed of the closet, Shawn and Gus decided to go back to the psych office and regroup. In the car, Shawn couldn't help but think about the house again and how there was no sign of a child living there. When he voiced his thoughts to Gus, his friend just raised an eyebrow at him. After all, though it may be a sad thought, the child's home life didn't have much to do with the case. Shawn knew it didn't, but he couldn't get the thought out of his head. The reason why suddenly hit him like a tonne of bricks. Shawn's upbringing was always strict, largely due to having a detective as a father. Shawn had missed out on many aspects of his childhood, just like he assumed Daniel had. Perhaps not in the same way, but the pseudo psychic could certainly empathise.

Shawn sighed and shook the thought out of his head, happy to see that they were approaching the office. He was so absorbed in his own thoughts that, oddly enough, _Gus_ was the one who noticed it first.

"What… on Earth…" Gus left the question hanging. He stopped the car abruptly, took out his keys, and opened his car door. Shawn looked up and zeroed into the office door, which was slightly open again. His eyes widened and he followed his friend.

"I can't _believe_ you Shawn!" Gus yelled as he pushed open the door. Shawn would have been proud of his friend for being so brave if he wasn't so busy trying to remember if he locked the door the night before.

"Gus, I locked the door, I swear," Shawn defended himself, as he followed his friend inside. After a quick sweep of the office, he could see that everything was where it should be. Exactly like what had happened the day before.

"Come on, son!" Gus snapped back. He moved in to the kitchen and started throwing open the cupboards. "I guess we're dealing with a cat burglar then!"

"Yeah, a cat burglar that didn't steal anything," Shawn retorted sarcastically. He moved towards his desk, quickly noting that the muffin on Gus' desk was gone. He turned toward the closet behind his desk and noticed that it wasn't fully closed. It was the same visitor from yesterday, and apparently he was hungry. "Gus, what are you doing?" Shawn asked, turning back towards Gus.

"What does it look like I'm doing, Shawn? I'm seeing if anything was stolen!"

"What, so you're gonna open every drawer, cupboard, and closet until you find something out of place?"

"Yep."

"What if you don't?"

"We'll cross that bridge _if_ we get there."

"Man, do you even remember how things were before we left? I promise nothing's missing, I can sense it, let's just get some pineapple smoothies and go over the case."

"You can't sense anything, Shawn, and you know it. Besides, how can you even _think_ about smoothies right now. I feel so violated."

"Gus, I invite you to calm down and stop overreacting. How do you know someone even came in?"

"I am not overreacting. This is a completely normal way to react when your office building is unlocked, especially considering we run a private detective business! Who knows who could have come here and planted something," Gus jumps up quickly, as if struck with an epiphany. "What if Lassie came?" he whispered.

"Lassie? Why would Lassie have come here?"

"To plant a bug?" Gus continued whispering.

"Why would he plant a bug?"

"To prove that you're not… you know…"

"Gus, Lassie didn't plant anything. He was with us all day, when could he have planted a bug." Gus accepted that explanation and went back to searching through cupboards. "Dude, come on, seriously? Give it a rest!"

"Shawn, I'm not going to be calm and helpful until I'm a hundred percent sure nothing's missing, so either help me or leave me alone."

"Fine," Shawn admitted defeat. He moved to the back door, which was close to the closet, and opened it wide.

"Um… what are you doing?" Gus asked.

"Gus, don't you know how much dust this is all likely to carry? My sinuses can't handle that. A door open will help ventilate the room." Gus grumbled but allowed it. Shawn moved to the opposite corner of the office, making sure that the closet was blocked from his view. He waited a minute before calling out for Gus again. "Gus, oh my god, come here I think I found something!"

Gus ran over to him. "What, what's wrong?"

"There, can't you see it?" Shawn asked, pointing at absolutely nothing on a wall.

"See what?"

"That! How can you _not_ see it?"

"What is it?"

"A great big massive sign!"

"A what?"

"A sign! From the heavens! It's saying something, listen…" Shawn paused and turned his head to bring his ear closer to the wall. "Oh, okay, yep, got it…" Shawn mumbled, as if he was responding to some phone conversation. He ignored Gus' infuriated look. "The sign's for you, Gus," Shawn said. He flicked Gus in the ear and continued, "It says 'stop worrying about nothing and focus back on the case'". Shawn turned towards his desk. He noticed the closet was now slightly more closed. He turned his attention towards the back door and only just caught a glimpse of a small figure running, before they disappeared from view.

"Shawn, that's not funny!" Gus's voice grabbed his attention again.

"Look, Gus, I _promise_ nothing's missing! And if you can even find one thing gone in the next week, I will personally replace it," Shawn said and sat down at his desk. "Now will you stop worrying about nothing and focus back to the issue at hand?"

Gus stared at Shawn suspiciously, but sat at his desk. He watched as Shawn opened the autopsy report Juliet had given them, and finally felt comfortable enough to relax in his chair. It was then that he noticed.

"Hey!" Gus exclaimed. "My muffin's gone!"

* * *

It was late at night when the two friends decided to head home and sleep. They had made some progress, hoping to get a chance to talk to Edward Lynne. They had already called Juliet, who would try to see if they could get him to stop by and give a statement. Shawn was adamant that Edward was their killer, despite the fact that he had an alibi. It was simply that the pseudo psychic could see no other reason to kill Richard _and_ Sofia other than Daniel, and who would want Daniel more than his biological father?

With some semblance of a plan set up, the friends left the office. Gus watched carefully as Shawn locked the door. Once he was satisfied, testing the door multiple times himself, he felt safe enough to leave the office unattended. They both climbed into his blueberry and Gus dropped Shawn off at his house, before driving home himself.

Shawn entered his house and couldn't help but think about their little visitor. Shawn had only caught a glimpse of the guy, but he could tell that he was a young boy. Probably without a home or any food to eat. He tried to shake the thought out of his head. He didn't know what it was about kids getting to him these days, maybe his little break made him soft. Or maybe it was to do with his mother's recent visit. Shawn forced himself to sit down on his couch and watch TV. It did no good to dwell.

Suddenly, thunder clapped so loudly Shawn nearly jumped out of his seat. He stared out the window and noticed the rain starting to pour. He immediately thought back to the young boy who was likely without shelter. He groaned at himself, but knew what he had to do. He grabbed some food from his fridge, his helmet, and his motorcycle keys. He climbed onto his bike and drove back to the psych office. He walked to the front door and unlocked it. He walked in and filled the kitchen fridge with the food he brought. When he walked back outside, he noticed a small figure by the bus stop across the street. He debated walking up to the young boy, but decided that would probably just scare him away. So instead, he made a show of closing the door and 'forgetting' to lock up. He hopped onto his bike and drove home.


	3. Thomas

**Hello lovelys!**

 **I keep alternating between really liking this story and feeling like it's too boring… thing is I know at the very least, last couple chapters are going to be high paced… I don't know. (these are all notes as I'm writing this, so who know, maybe once I've finished I'll be in love with it!) Anyways, let me know what you think! Please review!**

* * *

When Shawn woke up the next morning, his thoughts immediately went back to the young boy he saw the day before. He hoped that he had gotten the hint and had taken shelter in to Psych office. He hoped he had gotten a good meal, which he probably needed. Shawn found he genuinely hoped the best for the young kid's well being. Why? He wasn't entirely sure. He could say that he was just being a good person, caring about a stranger in a storm, but he knew deep down that wasn't it. Shawn was changing, in small ways, but it was true.

Back when Shawn first started up Psych, he didn't think he'd ever become so invested in the lives of those around him. If he was being entirely honest, he didn't even think he'd still be interested in the detective business so long after it had opened, and yet here he was. By no means would Shawn say he was now a fully qualified mature adult, far from it actually, but he was certainly changing. It was most obvious when it came to kids, though, and he blamed that on his mother's recent visit. It made Shawn think back to his own childhood, about how he grew up with a detective and a psychologist. His childhood was every bit as messed up as it was expected to be with that equation, and that made him sympathetic to kids. He could understand, to some degree, what they were going through and all he wanted to do was tell those kids they were going to be alright, like he wished someone did with him.

Shawn got out of bed, deciding he didn't want to linger on his childhood for even a second longer. Instead he focused back to the kid who was sneaking into his office. He decided that he needed to intervene. Sure, Shawn didn't mind the kid using their office as a shelter, but Gus did. Plus, surely there was someone looking for the kid. So, in that moment, Shawn decided to go to the office and find him.

In record time, Shawn was on his bike and ready to go. It had only taken him ten minutes to get dressed, gather his things, and brush his teeth. He drove quickly but carefully to the office, only to feel his heart drop at the sight of the blueberry already parked outside. Shawn swore to himself, but parked his bike and made his way to the door. He walked inside and immediately noticed all the cupboards in the kitchen were opened, as were all the drawers to their desks. Gus was frantically opening everything, muttering to himself as he did.

"Gus, what are you doing?" Shawn asked.

"Shawn, I'm sorry I doubted you for locking the door yesterday," was the only explanation Gus gave.

"Gus?"

"Someone is breaking into our office!" Gus exclaimed. "Who knows how long they've been doing it for!"

"Relax, nothing's missing – "

"You keep saying that! As if it helps!"

"Hey, listen, there was a storm yesterday, alright? It was probably just somebody looking for shelter and warmth. Nothing looks out of place."

"Last I checked, Shawn, storms don't excuse breaking and entering!" Gus snapped, ending any retort Shawn could have come up with. He opened the fridge, and Shawn could have sworn he saw his eyes pop out of their sockets. "It certainly doesn't excuse _burglary_!" Gus slammed the fridge closed and moved towards Shawn's desk.

"Gus, can you just relax?"

"No, for some reason I'm struggling to relax knowing that someone broke into my office!" Gus moved for the closet behind Shawn's desk. The pseudo psychic noticed too late that he was going for the handle.

"Gus, wait!" Shawn tried, but his friend already threw open the door. It was empty. Shawn cocked his head to the side. The kid left already, who knows why.

"This is driving me insane," Gus grumbled, ignoring Shawn's outcry. "What did they take?!"

Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Shawn and Gus looked towards the door, where a young boy stood. He had brown hair that looked like it hadn't been washed for a while, or brushed for that matter. He was wearing a green shirt and an old pair of jeans. His shoes, which once were white, looked grey along with some mud stains. His arms were wrapped around himself, his hands playing with his shirt.

"Excuse me," the young boy's voice somehow seemed even smaller than him. "Are you detectives?" Shawn and Gus exchanged a glance

"Sort of," Shawn answered. "We're the best kind of detectives."

"Shawn," Gus tried, but no point.

"Why?" Shawn asked.

"I need help finding my daddy," the boy said.

"Well, uh… listen, any other day, I'd be up for helping you," Shawn says. "But we're kind of in the middle of something right now. Maybe the police can – "

"No!" Shawn and Gus almost recoiled at the shriek. They certainly didn't expect _that_ from the little boy.

"Okay, no police. What's your name?" Shawn tried again. The boy hesitated.

"Thomas," he answered.

"Okay, Thomas, I'm sure your daddy will turn up. I wish I could help, but I'm a bit busy now. Why don't you go to your mommy?"

"I don't have a mommy."

"Wow, okay, um…." Shawn turns to Gus for help, but he just shrugged his shoulders. Gus was more lost for words that Shawn was. "Look, kid, I want to help, but – "

"You have to help! Or… or… or I'll tell on you."

Shawn raised his eyebrows in shock. That was so perfectly… childish of him. "What? You'll… tell on me? For what?"

"For lying."

"And what exactly am I lying about?"

"You're not psychic."

Shawn chuckled. "What makes you think that?"

"I heard you two talking about it. You're not psychic, he said so," Thomas pointed his finger at Gus.

"Look, kid, I'm not saying you're right but at the end of the day it's your word against mine," Shawn said. "Also, for future reference, blackmail is not exactly the best way to get people to do you favours."

"Fine, I'll go to the police," Thomas said. "They'll help me find my daddy, and while I'm there, I'll find Lassie and tell him that Shawn Spencer isn't psychic. That I heard him admit it."

"Woah, what? How do you know about Lassie?"

"He's the bug!" Gus suddenly hissed at Shawn.

"He's not a bug," Shawn rolled his eyes at his friend.

"I'm going," Thomas said and turned for the exit.

"Woah, woah, woah, hey, wait a second," Shawn chased after him and grabbed his arm. "Kid, I really just don't have the time to help you find your daddy, I'm sorry. I would if I could."

"Then make time. Daddy always said that there's always enough time for everything, it's about what you prioritise."

Shawn turned towards Gus.

"Two cases at once?" Gus asked.

"Looks like it," Shawn agreed. Shawn stood up and gestured towards his desk. "Come on in, you little munchkin, tell us everything."

Thomas's face lit up and he walked further inside, past Shawn and Gus. He laid eyes on the couch by the window and jumped up on it. Shawn grabbed the chair by his desk and place it in front of the couch. Gus followed suit, grabbing his own chair. They both took a seat. Thomas looked far too big for the couch, but he looked so happy and comfortable sitting in it that they didn't dare comment. They instead tried to keep the conversation relevant.

"So, Thomas, how old are you?" Shawn asked.

"Sev – no, eight," Thomas said with a smile.

"Can you remember where you and your daddy live?" Gus asked.

"California," Thomas said, looking proud.

"Okay, where in California?"

"Santa Barbara."

"Can you remember a street name?"

Thomas thought about for a moment before shaking his head.

"Well why don't you tell us the last time you saw your daddy?" Shawn tried.

"A long time ago," Thomas answered, not really helping.

"Can you remember when?" Shawn tried again.

"Well, I went to Ria's house on Monday, so then."

"Monday, as in two days ago?" Gus tried to clarify.

"No. The Monday before that."

"Okay, that's a good start," Shawn said.

"Who's Ria?" Gus asked. "Is that your neighbour? Your daddy's… friend?"

"She's mommy _and_ daddy's friend."

"Your mommy's friend?" Gus clarified.

Thomas nodded. "I did _have_ a mommy. But she's gone now. But that's okay, because even when she was here, she wasn't really here. She'd spend a lot of days in her room, or at work, she wouldn't really talk to me a lot, and she didn't buy me many toys, not like the others in my class, their mommies are always at school helping and they buy them cool things, like this one kid, Adam, his mommy got him the new Hot Wheels! It's so cool! They go so fast and – "

"Okay, hey, Thomas? Let's focus back to your mommy and daddy, okay?" Shawn interrupted. Thomas blushed but nodded his head.

"Can you tell us anything else about Ria?" Gus asked. "Like… do you spend a lot of time with her?"

"Yeah, Ria is like my other mommy. She always spends time with me, and buys me toys, and cooks really nice food for me! Not like the stuff mommy would always put in the microwave, that tastes funny!"

Shawn and Gus exchanged a glance. They knew they shouldn't think badly of people who had recently died, but from the sounds of it, this woman certainly wasn't going to win any 'Mother of the Year' awards.

"When did you leave Ria?" Shawn asked.

"Sunday," Thomas's face dropped. "We got into a fight. Ria never yells at me, but she did. So I left to go find daddy."

"You just left? Wandering around in the streets?" Gus asked.

Thomas nodded. "And then I found – "

The story was interrupted by Shawn's phone ringing. Shawn looked at the caller ID; Jules.

"Ah, sorry kid, this is our other case," Shawn quickly explained. He stood up and answered the phone. "Psychic extraordinaire, how may I help you?"

' _Hey Shawn, Edward Lynne just arrived at the department. Carlton is taking him to an interrogation room. He's refused to let you to talk to him, but the observation room is all yours. If you can get any sort of…_ reading _on him, that would be great.'_

"Sounds like a plan, Jules. We'll see you soon," Shawn said, and with that they hung up the phone. "That was Jules," Shawn explained. "Lassie's being a real stick in the mud, so if we want in on the interview, we gotta go now."

"Shawn, we can't just… leave…" Gus nodded his head towards Thomas.

"Okay, we'll bring him with us," Shawn said matter of factly.

"We can't bring a _kid_ to the station!" Gus hissed.

"Then you stay and watch him."

"Shawn, I'm _not_ going to play babysitter!"

"Then come with me."

"Shawn!"

"Gus, I've literally gone through every possible option here! What do you want me to do?"

" _You_ stay and watch the kid!"

"What, and you go to the station and get a psychic reading off the suspect?"

"Tsk!" Gus glared at Shawn, and Shawn glared back.

"Look, we don't have a lot of time, Lassie is going to start the interview, we're gonna miss it if we don't get in the car right now."

Gus debated this for a moment before giving in. "I'll start the car, you talk to Thomas."

Shawn nodded and turned to Thomas. "Hey, listen, I've got a big favour to ask of you. We've gotta do something, we'll be an hour tops. We're going to lock the door behind us and you're going to stay here, okay? Don't open the door for _anyone_."

Thomas stared at Shawn for a moment before hesitantly nodding his head.

"Great," Shawn said with a smile. "Help yourself to anything in the fridge, and there are some toys in that locker there," Shawn pointed to a locked closet behind Gus's desk. "The key is in the second drawer," Shawn said with a wink. He walked out of the office, locked the door, and joined Gus in his car.


	4. Little Visitor

**Hello lovelys!**

 **Okay, so, I'm starting to like my own story a bit more now. Got pretty into writing it that I didn't even realise I was starting to accidently merge 2 chapters! That's a good sign, right? Anyways, let me know what you think!**

 **I've decided to update again this week because I felt like the last chapter was kind of short and boring, and even this one is kinda short and boring... I'm not really selling myself well am I? I promise it does pick up! Please review!**

* * *

Shawn and Gus entered the police department a little while later. They strode past the officers in blue and quickly made their way to the interrogation room. They entered the observation room, silently greeted by Chief Vick. They nodded and then turned towards the glass. Lassiter and Juliet were already inside, questioning who they assumed to be Edward Lynne. He was a big man with black hair, blue eyes, and a very strong build. However intimidating he looked, it didn't even phase the detectives interrogating him.

"Look, I already told you, I haven't seen Sofia in _years_. Not since we were married," Edward Lynne insisted.

"You mean since you went to jail," Lassiter corrected. Edward glared at him and Juliet elbowed him.

"That's correct," Edward said through clenched teeth. "I haven't seen her since I went to jail. I've just been sticking to the terms of my parole, including that silly restraining order. So sorry for following the rules."

"We're looking for your son, Daniel Brookes – "

"Like hell," Edward spat. "It's Daniel _Lynne_."

"Richard Brookes legally adopted Daniel after marrying Sofia," Lassiter clarified. Edward's hand clenched into a fist. "So it's Daniel _Brookes."_

"We're looking for _Daniel_ ," Juliet amended, hoping to please both stubborn men. "Do you have any idea where he would be?"

"Why would I know where he is?" Edward asked. "He's part of that restraining order. I can't see him unless I want to give up my parole."

"He was last seen with his Aunt Maria, do you know who that is?" Juliet continued.

"Unless Dick's sister is named Maria, then no. How should I know who that it?"

"Richard doesn't have a sister," Lassiter supplied.

"Did Sofia ever mention a friend named Maria?" Juliet asked.

"Sofia didn't have any friends when we were married."

"More like you didn't _let her_ have friends," Lassiter said.

"Look, the only reason I'm here for this interview is because my lawyer said this was not going to be an interrogation! Yet here I am, _interrogation_ room, with God knows how many pigs behind that stupid mirror."

"Mr. Lynne, you're not being interrogated," Juliet tried to assure him. "We're just trying to catch a killer and find your son."

"And why exactly would I be able to help with any of that?"

"You knew Sofia. We wanted to see if you knew anybody that she would trust enough with her son."

"Like I said, she didn't have any friends when we were together." Lassiter glared hard at Edward.

"Do you know anyone she would trust enough with… a spare key to her house? Did she have any friends who would sometimes spend the night? Did she – "

"She didn't have _any_ friends."

"I think we're done here," Lassiter said at last, standing up. "You are no more useful than a turd left on the sidewalk." And with that, Lassiter walked out of the interrogation room. Juliet stared after her partner in shock before turning back to Edward.

"Thank you for your time, Mr. Lynne," Juliet said. She stood up and pulled out a card from her back pocket. "If you think of anything that could be useful, please give us a call."

"What about my son?" Edward asked, still sitting.

"If you had offered anything we could actually _use_ , I would be able to give you an answer," Juliet retorted icily. She flicked her card at him and walked out of the room. Edward shamelessly stared directly at Juliet's butt as she walked out of the door.

"Now that's just wrong," Gus commented.

"What an ass," Shawn said, true and pure hatred growing inside him. He never thought it was possible to hate a man so much. "Come on, let's go catch up with Jules."

Shawn and Gus walked out of the observation room and walked together towards their favourite detectives' desk. Lassiter was already at his desk, apparently trying to burn a hole into his computer using only his mind. Juliet had gone to the coffee machine, trying to calm her nerves. She came back and smiled when she saw the Psych duo. She sat down in her chair and placed her coffee on the desk. She turned to face them.

"You made it," she said. "Did you get anything?"

"Other than the fact that that guy needs Jesus?" Gus asked. Juliet raised an eyebrow at him. Shawn ignored him and put his hand to his head. He made pensive noises before giving up and moving his hand down.

"The spirits aren't being particularly helpful at the moment," Shawn admitted. "But, personal speculation, that's our guy."

"Shawn, his alibi is solid. He was playing poker with a bunch of friends. They've confirmed that he was there _and_ he's got the dent in his bank account from losing to prove it."

"Something just doesn't sit right with me, or the spirits."

"That would be because he's an abusive son of a bitch," Lassiter muttered from where he sat. "How he got away with only six years, let alone _parole_ , is beyond me." Lassiter sighed. "Lady Justice usually does good, but sometimes, little slippery bastards like Lynne make it through the cracks. It's our job put things back in order."

Juliet, Shawn, and Gus stared at Lassiter in shock. He never talked badly about the law. In fact, Shawn was convinced that he just chose to ignore the flaws. Lassiter looked up at the three of them and glanced between them. He looked back down, grumbled something incoherent, then stood up and walked to the coffee machine. Slowly, the Shawn and Gus turned to face the junior detective.

"Carlton will never admit it, but this case is really getting to him," Juliet told them. "And not because of the double homicide and the missing kid, although I feel like that would be cause enough. He thinks Edward is at least _involved_ in this mess and… I think it's harder now more than ever to ignore the fact that sometimes the system fails." Juliet grabbed her mug of coffee and took a big gulp.

"Come on, Jules," Shawn said in a soft voice. "We'll find the guy who did this, we always do. And we'll find the kid."

"I hope you're right, Shawn," Juliet said. "We're just hitting dead end after dead end. Thanks for your help with the murder weapon, by the way. We found some prints on it and it's at the lab getting analysed."

"Any headway on finding out who Maria is?" Shawn asked.

"We've talked to their neighbours, some of which could give a description. The only consistent report is that she's average height with brown hair. Which of course doesn't help at all."

"Have you tried Sofia's social worker?" Shawn asked.

"They haven't visited Sofia in over a year…"

"Yeah, but they must know some of the family's close friends. Look, it's not guaranteed to lead to Daniel, but it's a starting point, right?"

"That's a good thought, Shawn," Juliet said, deep in thought. "I'll give them a call. It's better than sitting around all day waiting for the lab." Juliet put down her coffee and picked up her phone. She opened her file, found the number, and started dialing.

"We're gonna head off Jules," Shawn said softly. "Just… one more thing,"

"Yeah?"

Shawn hesitated. "Make sure to get a good night's sleep tonight, okay?" Juliet stared at Shawn in shock. "You're not going to be any help to Daniel or the case if you're sleep deprived."

Juliet opened her mouth as if she was going to respond, but it was at that moment that the social workers had decided to pick up the phone. She turned her attention to the call. And with that, Shawn and Gus turned to leave.

* * *

It didn't take long before Shawn and Gus arrived back at the Psych office. They opened the front door, happy to find that it was still locked. Inside, Thomas was still sitting on the couch in almost the exact position they had left him in. When they asked if he had moved at all, Thomas admitted he had gone to the bathroom. Shawn and Gus exchanged a worried look. That was when Shawn noticed the time and realised it was almost two and none of them had eaten lunch. He suggested jerk chicken, and Gus jumped at the idea, just as expected. It took a bit more convincing to get Thomas out of the office, but he did follow.

They had a long lunch, where Shawn and Gus did most of the talking. Thomas was happy to just sit back and listen. Occasionally, he'd even laugh with the two adults. It was almost four when they finally returned. Gus complained the entire drive back, saying how they should have been focusing their time on the case, not just food. But deep down, he knew just as well as Shawn that Thomas needed those couple hours of fun. They didn't quite understand what this kid had been through, but they certainly knew that he needed food in his stomach and a smile on his face.

When they walked back into the office, Thomas took his usual seat on the couch while Shawn and Gus pulled their chairs out again. Thomas' shyness started to show again as he wrapped his arms around himself once more and started playing with his shirt. Shawn noticed immediately and knew it would be difficult to get the kid to talk at all.

"So, Thomas," Shawn started. He tried to put a comforting hand on the kid's back, but he flinched away so violently the psychic became concerned. He shot Gus a look, but he just shrugged his shoulders. So, Shawn cleared his throat and continued, "We were talking about how you ended up walking these streets alone." Thomas kept his mouth shut.

"You got in a fight with Ria," Gus supplemented.

"We never fight," Thomas said softly. "And she never yelled. She must hate me now."

"Come on, buddy, I'm sure she doesn't," Shawn said reassuringly.

"Why would she yell?"

"Sometimes people do or say things they don't mean… that doesn't mean they don't love you," Shawn explained.

"That's what daddy always said about mommy."

"Did your mommy yell at you a lot?" Gus asked.

Thomas shrugged. "Not all the time. Sometimes she was really nice, sometimes she'd give me hugs, but a lot of the time she thought I talked too much and would yell at me to shut up."

"Well that's not very nice," Shawn said. "But I'm sure she still loved you. Even if she said some not so nice things. And I'm sure it's the same with Ria."

"Why did you and Ria fight?" Gus asked. Thomas looked down.

"Ria said I had to stay with her for a bit longer… but I wanted to go home. So I cried and said that she wasn't mommy and that I wanted my mommy, not her."

"But then you went to go find your daddy…" Shawn said, feeling confused.

"I found my mommy first. But then she left. Now I need to find my daddy."

"Do you remember their names?" Gus asked. Thomas looked up at the two of them and shook his head. Gus and Shawn exchanged a look. Thomas was lying about that, it was obvious. He still didn't trust them, and yet he wanted them to pull some miracle and find his dad.

"You know what, Gus," Shawn said at last while stretching his arms. "It's been a long day, don't you think?" he asked. "Maybe it would be a good idea to just call it a day."

"Shawn? Are you serious – " Gus stopped his lecture mid thought as he noticed Thomas immediately loosen up. Now that he wasn't the centre of attention, nor was he the subject of interrogation, he had visibly relaxed. "You know what, yeah, you're right. It's been a long day."

"You know, I think I've got my PlayStation here, we could always just play some games for a bit then head to bed."

"That sounds like a great idea."

"You know, we could even pull out the cushions of the sofa, make a fort, and have a sleepover here."

"You know that's right," Gus smiled and held out his fist. Shawn gladly bumped it before turning to look at Thomas. He pretended to be surprised, as if he had forgotten that the kid was still there.

"Oh, Thomas… you wouldn't want to join, would you?" the young boy's face lit up like a Christmas tree. He nodded furiously and jumped off the couch.

Together, they set up the TV, got out the PlayStation, and made what Shawn proclaimed was the best fort ever. They spent the rest of the day playing games, laughing, and talking. Every now and then, Shawn would sneak in a question about Thomas's mother and father, and he would answer without even realising they were asking. So far, they knew both his parents worked full time jobs, they always went out for dinner on Sunday to a different restaurant by the pier before spending the night walking around. Whenever he stayed with Ria, they all always made sure that he was back to his parents in time for Sunday dinner. That was partially what made Thomas so mad that he wasn't going home. They also learned that Thomas viewed his father like a giant, said he must have been ten feet tall. Shawn had laughed, but made a mental note that his father was tall.

The night carried on like that until Thomas fell asleep. Shawn and Gus turned off the TV and chatted for a moment longer, both about Thomas's case and about the double murder. Soon, they too started to hear the calls of the sandman, and they drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Shawn woke up several hours later with possibly the driest mouth of his life. He immediately thought of the one time it was worse; Utah, his 22nd birthday. He had gone hiking with some friends and opted not to bring water with him. Biggest mistake of his life. Shawn shook away the memory and focused instead on his insane thirst. He tried to stand up before quickly remembering that they had built a fort. Shawn quickly looked to his side and noticed that Thomas was no longer sleeping in there. Shawn started panicking and quickly crawled out of the fort. He ran to the light switch and was about to flick it on when he noticed the closet behind his desk was half open.

Shawn slowly approached the closet and peered in. Thomas lay inside, sleeping soundly and looking more peaceful and happy than he had the entire day. Shawn smiled to himself and walked towards the kitchen.

They found their little visitor.


	5. Maria

**Hello lovelys!**

 **So this fic took a turn I didn't quite anticipate in regards to Jules and Lassie, but I'm liking it so far so will keep it going, but let me know what you think! Please review!**

* * *

Gus was the first to wake up the next morning. As he opened his eyes, he quickly took in his surroundings, momentarily forgetting that he had spent the night in the Psych office. He groaned and shoved Shawn, who was lying down next to him. Shawn grumbled and turned over, so Gus shoved him again. When Shawn muttered an annoyed comment, Gus knew his friend was now awake and would struggled to fall back asleep again. So with that knowledge, Gus got up and crawled out of their fort. He walked over to the closet in the back, thanking his overly preparedness as he pulled out a change of clothes. He put on a pot of coffee before going into the bathroom to change. When he got out, Shawn was pouring two cups of coffee, his hair a mess and his jeans out of sight.

"It's hot," Shawn explained, feeling Gus' stare. "And pants are works of the devil."

"As long as you've got _something_ on," Gus retorted as he grabbed one of the cups. "There's a change of clothes in the closet for you as well if you want."

Shawn stared at Gus for a moment. "I don't even want to know why or how you got hold of my clothes."

Gus rolled his eyes and opened the cupboard, pulling out a box of cereal. Shawn grabbed the milk from the fridge and they moved to the table to eat. They both looked back at the fort. Shawn wasn't sure when, but at some point in the night Thomas had gotten out of his closet and returned to the fort. He didn't mind, he just wished he understood why.

"What do you think Thomas would like to eat?" Gus asked.

"I think he'll be happy with cereal," Shawn said, knowing full well that Thomas would simply be happy with food in general. After all, Thomas was their nightly visitor who just wanted shelter and food. They could easily provide that.

"What about clothes? Who knows how long he's been wearing the same thing," Gus asked, seeming more to himself than his friend.

"I don't think we need to worry about his fashion sense at this point," Shawn said absentmindedly.

"I'm not worried about his _fashion_ , I'm worried about his _hygiene_ ," Gus glared at Shawn.

"Alright, well then he can have a shower here and borrow one of our shirts while we go out and get something for him," Shawn suggested.

"Our shirts would be massive on him."

"It'll only be temporary. I thought you weren't worried about fashion?"

"I'm not… where would even go to buy kids clothes without looking suspicious?"

"Why does buying kids clothes have to be suspicious?"

"Uh, because _neither_ of us _have_ kids, Shawn. What if your dad saw us buying them? Or Juliet?"

Shawn shrugged. "I'm sure I'll think of something." Shawn stood up and went to the closet Gus pointed out, grabbed a change of clothes, and walked into the bathroom. He emerged ten minutes later and if Gus didn't know better, he would have assumed Shawn had never even slept at the office. He looked just like he did any other day. Gus shook the thought out his head and returned to his food. Shawn grabbed his set of keys and his helmet and moved to the door. "If Thomas wakes up while I'm gone, get him in the shower."

"Where are you going?" Gus asked.

"I was thinking _Target_. They've got some pretty decent stuff there, right?" Shawn asked.

"Shawn – "

"Hey, _you_ were the one worried about his hygiene," and with that, Shawn was out the door.

Just over an hour after he left, Shawn returned to his office. He was greeted by the sight of Gus tearing apart their fort and putting all the cushions away. Thomas sat where Gus had previously been sitting, staring at the salesman as he destroyed their masterpiece. Thomas's hair was still dripping wet from his shower. Drops of water fell down and landed on what appeared to be one of Shawn's old shirt which swallowed the young boy whole. He was eating a big bowl of cereal with a glass of orange juice to his right

Shawn walked over to Thomas and pulled out an outfit from the bag. A _Star Wars_ shirt paired with jeans, fresh underwear, and fresh socks. He handed the ensemble to Thomas, whose face lit up at the sight of the shirt. He excitedly ran to the bathroom and was changed within two minutes. While he was gone, Shawn had pulled out one of his other purchases, a small _Hot Wheels_ toy, and put it next to the bowl of cereal This earned him a concerned glance from Gus, but he didn't say anything as Shawn put the other clothes he had bought in the closet.

The morning proceeded in a slow pace. The three boys were slow in moving on with their day and keen to keep their relaxed attitude. It was Gus who would occasionally try to bring the conversation back to Ria and the missing father, but Thomas was as shy as ever in responding to their questions. Gus had to admit, though, the toy car Shawn had bought did appear to help. Thomas was warming up to them, but it would still take time.

Any progress they could have been making was interrupted by the office phone ringing. It was the chief asking them to drop by the station. Just as they had done the day before, they left Thomas in the office alone, locking the door behind them as they left, and making sure the kid knew not to answer the door to anyone.

* * *

The two partners arrived at the station soon after. Juliet met them at the entrance and explained that they had found Daniel's Aunt Maria, at long last. Her name was Maria Matthews, she used to be the social worker who was in charge of Daniel's case. Juliet had found her the day before when she called the social worker agency and asked for Sofia's case. Maria was the original social worker who got along very well with both mother and son. Eventually, she realised that the family meant more to her than she was legally allowed to care about a case, so she quit. She was no longer Maria the social worker and became Maria the friend and sometimes-babysitter. The new social worker had given Juliet her phone number and address, and that was how they found her. She was now sitting in the interrogation room, waiting to be interviewed by the detectives.

Juliet led Shawn and Gus to the observation room, calling Lassiter over as she did. Shawn looked through the window and noticed the woman inside. The neighbours who had called her average was an enormous understatement. She may have common features – brown hairs, brown eyes, and a fairly petite stature – but she was beautiful. Her eyes were soft and her smile was genuine, even given the circumstance. The detectives entered the room, and Shawn quickly diverted his gaze away from the ex-social worker. It was not the time or the place.

"Miss Matthews, thank you for coming down to talk to us," Juliet said softly. "I understand this is a hard time for you, only just hearing of your friend's death." Maria looked down and Shawn only just noticed the look in her eye. She was really hurt by Sofia's death.

"Anything to help," Maria said softly.

"I'm sure you've gathered by now, but Daniel is also missing," Juliet continued. "We were hoping that he'd be with you or that you might know where he is."

"No, I haven't got a clue," Maria said. "I… oh, God, it's my fault, isn't it? I was… I was looking after him and…" she sighed and visibly deflated as she closed her eyes.

"Why don't we start from the beginning," Lassiter suggested. He was really _trying_ to approach this gently, but that was easier said than done for him. "Why was Daniel with you in the first place?"

"I… I sometimes take care of him," Maria explained. "I used to be a social worker and I was in charge of their case, but it was getting to personal for me so I quit. I've gotten to know them really well, though, and I couldn't just leave them. I understood both of them better than most people did. They've… well, they've been through a lot. Sofia especially.

"She had a hard life before she met Richard. Sometimes, I think Daniel reminds her of that. I suppose it happens. Sometimes you associate horrible things with something that used to bring you so much joy. I don't find it unusual and I don't blame Sofia. She's working on it, but sometimes it's all too much, and that's when I come in to help."

"When did Daniel go to live with you?" Lassiter asked.

"Last Monday. Richard was stressed; his company was going bankrupt and his stress made Sofia stressed. I thought I'd intervene before things got out of hand."

"Yeah, things got out of hand, alright," Lassiter said. "Richard was murdered."

Maria winced. "I know. Sofia told me."

"And you didn't think to bring Daniel home to his mother? Or help Sofia?" Lassiter asked.

"Of course I thought about it, it was all I ever thought about," Maria said. "But Daniel came first. I wanted to protect him, and I figured the best way to do that was if he didn't know about Richard's death. As for Sofia, I called her every night. She didn't sound in good shape, but why would she be? Her husband just died. Anyways, she didn't want to see Daniel. She just wanted to be alone. And if I'm honest, I was worried what would happen if I _did_ bring him home to see his mother. I mean… I don't think Sofia would ever _intentionally_ hurt Daniel but… I don't know. I was worried."

"But you weren't worried enough to come forward when she was found dead?" Lassiter asked.

"I didn't know she was dead until you called me last night," Maria explained.

"I find that very hard to believe," Lassiter retorted.

"I didn't, honest. I've been busy with the kids, the school I work at has a chicken pox outbreak, and I've been organising Richard's funeral because Sofia was too distraught to. I've had a lot going on I barely even had enough time for myself."

"And you didn't think it was weird that Sofia, a supposed _close_ friend, never called to talk about her loss or to even check on her son?"

"Of course I found it weird that she never called, I was worried out of my mind! I've lost count of the number of voicemails I'd left! I was even thinking that if she didn't pick up today I was going to drop by. But in any case, I always thought Daniel was _with her_!"

"Why?" Juliet asked.

"Because… we got in this fight on Sunday and he ran out. I followed him out, but it was too dark, I couldn't see. I called Sofia to let her know and a couple minutes later she told me that he had gone back home."

"Then why did you never try to check up on _him?_ If he really means as much to you as you say he does?" Lassiter asked.

"Of course he means a lot to me! They both do! I was just… I was busy, I was stressed, and of course now it seems like a self obsessed thing to say, but I didn't know Sofia was dead! If I had known _of course_ I would have come in earlier, but in hindsight, everyone has 20-20 vision."

"Do you know where Daniel is?" Juliet asked gently.

"No I don't… wait… you said Sofia died Sunday, right?"

"Her time of death was that Sunday night, yes, but she was found Monday morning," Juliet confirmed.

"Did he go to school that Monday? Was he home when it happened? What if – oh God! What if the guy who did that to Sofia took Daniel?!"

Juliet paused. "I'm not going to lie, that's a possibility."

"Oh God!" Maria buried her face in her hands.

Juliet stared sympathetically at the woman in front of her. She couldn't even begin to understand how guilty she must have felt, but she believed it. "I read some of your early reports on Sofia and Daniel," Juliet started. "You wrote that Daniel used to run from home a lot. He'd disappear for hours, sometimes even days at a time. Does he still do that?"

Maria looked up, "Rarely," she said. "Only when he's really stressed or scared. He's only done it twice in that past two years."

"Is it possible that's what happened?" Juliet asked.

"I… I suppose… but he always came back. No matter where he went or what had happened, he always came back."

"Then we'll make sure someone is always watching his house," Juliet agreed. "If he does go back home, someone will be there." Maria nodded gratefully. "In the meantime, do you know of anywhere he may have gone?"

"Um… the park? Or maybe… sometimes he'd hang around the pier… Richard took him there a lot."

"We'll check it out," Juliet assured her.

"Is there anything else I could… do or answer?" Maria asked.

"No, I think – " Juliet started, but Lassiter cut her off.

"Yes, where were you between eleven PM Sunday evening to two AM Monday morning?"

"I… what?" Maria asked, the panic clear in her eyes and voice. "Are you serious?"

"You were close with Daniel, who has conveniently disappeared in the couple hours that he was out of your care. Add to that the fact that it's taken several days for you to come forward about Sofia, yes, I'm very serious."

Maria stared at Lassiter, eyes wide and jaw hanging. Juliet turned to look at her parter in shock and annoyance. "I was at home… sleeping," Maria said so softly the detectives could barely hear her.

"Can you verify that?" Lassiter pressed.

Maria looked taken aback. "How could i possibly verify if i was sleeping? I live alone..." Maria glanced between both detectives and all remaining colour drained from her face. "Do I need a lawyer?"

"That depends, do you have something to hide – "

"No, you don't," Juliet cut Lassiter off at that point. "We only wanted to ask you a couple questions and I think we're done here." She glared at her partner, who only glared back. Juliet pulled out her card and handed it to Maria. "If you can think of anything else, or if you hear something, please don't hesitate to call us. We want to find Daniel just as much as you do."

Maria slowly nodded and gradually worked her way out of her seat. Lassiter and Juliet stood up. Juliet glared at Lassiter as she guided Maria out of the interrogation room and towards the exit of the precinct. Shawn and Gus exited the observation room and followed them. Juliet had continued to reassure Maria all the way to the exit, before waving her off and promising to call her if anything came up about Daniel. Once Maria had left, Juliet turned to go back to Shawn and Gus, ignoring Lassiter as he approached the group too.

"Did you get anything off her?" Juliet asked Shawn.

"Jules, the spirits believe her," Shawn said. "And I do too. As for the whereabouts of Daniel, we're still working on that."

"You believe that crap?" Lassiter asked as he reached the group.

"Yes, as do the spirits. Oh they also have a message for you, Lassiekins," Shawn raised his hand to his temple, closed his eyes and pretended to be deep in thought. He gasped and moved his hand. "They say you're intimidating the wrong person." Lassiter glared, but said nothing.

"We're going back to the Brookes residence," Juliet said. "Do you want to come? See if you can divine anything?"

"No, those lunatics are not coming," Lassiter tried.

"We'd love to go Jules!" Shawn said.

"But we can't," Gus interrupted.

"What?" Shawn asked.

"We've sorta… got something back at the office," Gus stared at Shawn desperate for him to get the hint.

"Nah, it can wait," Shawn waved him off.

"Shawn, it can't," Gus urged.

Shawn tried to argue but then he caught the look Gus was giving him. "You go ahead, Jules, Gus and I will catch up."

Juliet gave him an odd look, but agreed. She and Lassiter made their way out of the station and in their car. Once they were out of sight, Shawn grabbed Gus' elbow and pulled him to a secluded area. He briefly looked around before deciding no one was around. He turned back to Gus, but his friend beat him to it.

"Thomas is Daniel!" Gus hissed.

"What?" was Shawn's brilliant retort.

"Did you not hear the same interview I just heard?!" Gus asked. "Thomas went to Ria last Monday and left on Sunday! Thomas' mother is 'gone'! And let's not even talk about the similarities between 'Ria' and _Ma_ ria!"

"Okay, Gus, I'll admit those are a lot of coincidences, but that's all they are! Coincidences!"

"Come on, son! How can there be _this_ many coincidences?!" Gus asked exasperatedly. "We have to tell Jules!"

"No, we don't!" Shawn insisted. "We don't know they're the same person, and quite frankly I think you're wrong?"

"Excuse me?"

"Gus, sure there are some similarities, but think! Thomas is looking for his father, remember? Why would he be looking for the man who used to beat him and his mother? He's holding his father up on a pedestal! Now if you ask me, that does not sound like Edward Lynne. And, don't you remember? Thomas is _terrified_ of the cops! He won't go to them, won't even talk about them. What reason does _Daniel_ have to be afraid of them?"

"Shawn, you're reaching here."

"So are you! A couple coincidences mean nothing. Look, why don't we just keep Thomas on the down low until we have some real reason to believe he's Daniel, okay?"

Gus glared at Shawn for a moment. "Fine! But if I'm right, _you_ have to explain everything to Jules and Lassie _and_ explain that I wanted to come sooner."

"Fine, whatever," Shawn conceded. "Can we go to the crime scene now?"


	6. Daniel

**Hello lovelys!**

 **As I'm writing this, I'm sort of realising that the mystery and twists are very limited in this story, and that's fine, it just not usually what I write. I mean, usually, all my stories revolve around not knowing the big secret until much later, but that's not what this story is about and maybe that's why the story idea stuck in my head for so long, it's just something different.**

 **Anyways, these are all just my pre-chapter musings. Let me know what YOU think! Please review!**

* * *

Shawn and Gus arrived at the Brookes residence shortly after the two detectives had arrived. They entered the house, waving at some of the men in blue as they did. They found Lassiter inside, but he only glared. They met Juliet later, who smiled at them, but was quickly diverted back to work by her partner.

The house was a lot more empty than it was the last time they were there. Most of the CSI crew were in labs, testing for any trace of fingerprints or DNA. That made navigating through the house easier. Shawn was especially grateful at that meant he could dig through the owners belongings without any prying eyes or people trying to figure out how he could pretend to be psychic. He dug through several of the desks and drawers, hoping to find some sort of clue, but came up mostly emptyhanded.

Gus was sulking most of the time, his thoughts focused on the young boy he was sure they were hiding from the police. He could only thing about what might happen should the police ever did find out that they were harbouring Daniel after all that time. Would they be mad? Would they just be thankful he wasn't kidnapped. Gus paused as a horrible thought struck him. Would the cops think they had kidnapped Daniel? Would they think they were somehow involved in the murders? Gus was starting to feel sick and decided to trick himself into thinking that Shawn was right, even though deep down inside he didn't believe that.

Shawn was close to giving up on finding a clue. He had searched most of the house already but couldn't find anything. He was positive that if there was anything left in the house that could lead them to the killer, he would find it. He was beginning to think that the simple truth of it all was that the killer hadn't left anything behind at all. But that couldn't be right, killers always made mistakes. There was no such thing as a perfect crime and there was no way a man walked in, murdered a woman, and left without a trace!

Shawn groaned and sat down at the desk in the study. He worked through the drawers there, not fully paying attention to what was inside. It wasn't until he was halfway closing the top right drawer that he realised he was about to stumble on to something. He froze, staring at the piece of paper at the top of the drawer. Once he made out the words 'Richard Brookes Will' Shawn knew that he had struck gold. He threw open the drawer and grabbed at the piece of paper. He read through it quickly and smiled. He'd done it again.

"Jules! Lassie!" Shawn called out. "I've got something!"

The two detectives approached Shawn; Juliet with hope in her eyes, and Lassiter seemingly only going along with this for appearance's sake. Shawn handed Juliet the will immediately. Lassiter didn't even bother looking at it, he was already fed up with the pseudo psychic being there.

"The spirits lead me here to this drawer," Shawn quickly explained. "They kept whispering that the answer was in the study. I just thought they mean like knowledge, that knowledge is the answer and if you study enough you'll have the answer to everything, but this makes _much_ more sense."

"Oh my God," Juliet gasped. That caught Lassiter's interest. "In the event of Richard Brookes death, he leaves all of his money to his adopted son Daniel Brookes, meanwhile the house and all his possessions go to his wife, Sofia Swanson-Brookes."

"So? What does that mean?" Gus asked.

"Richard Brookes, not including his house and possessions, is worth half a million dollars," Lassiter explained.

"And all of that is now Daniel's," Juliet explained. "Well, at least it will be once he turns eighteen."

"But that's still ten years away," Gus said.

"Exactly," Shawn responded. "Which is why the killer had to off Sofia as well."

"Oh my God," Juliet said again.

"I don't understand," Gus admitted.

"Until Daniel turns eighteen, that money is technically his legal guardian's money," Lassiter explained.

"So he killed Richard to invoke the will," Shawn continued. "And then killed Sofia to get rid of his current legal guardian."

"But all that is under the assumption that the killer would be Daniel's legal guardian," Gus said.

"Exactly," Shawn said. "And who do we know would be considered for that role?"

"Two people come to mind," Lassiter said. "Lynne and Matthews."

"The biological father and ex social worker," Juliet clarified.

"Hang on, but Edward Lynne sent Daniel to the hospital… and his mother, many times, why would anyone let Daniel back into his care?" Gus asked.

"Social service try to put family with family wherever possible," Juliet explained.

"But Edward was an abusive ass – "

"Who is out on parole for good behaviour and hasn't violated any of his parole conditions over that past six months _and_ has an alibi for the murder," Lassiter intervened, his voice disappointed. "They'll see him as a changed man."

"But it's still reason to suspect him, isn't it?" Shawn asked. "I mean... he could have hired someone to do it for all we know."

"It is _definitely_ a cause for suspicion," Juliet confirmed. "We'll bring them in for questioning."

"We should also look into Edward's sister or Richard's brothers," Lassiter said. "Just to cover all bases."

Juliet nodded in agreement before placing the will in an evidence bag. "I'll get forensics to go over this and try to find if anything is unusual. Just to be sure." The two detectives were about to take their leave, when Juliet's phone rang. She picked it up with her usual cheery response.

Shawn nodded, glad to have offered help in some way, and happy to have a lead in this never ending case. He turned to the opened drawer to close it, when he noticed a picture frame in the drawer. He picked it up and stared at it, his eyes widening in shock. It was a picture of the family at the beach. Richard was on the left, Sofia was on the right, and Daniel was sandwiched between them.

"Gus," Shawn called out in a small voice. Gus stared at him as Shawn passed him the photo. Gus looked at the photo and his eyes widened. He stared back at Shawn, glaring at him for ever suggesting that he was wrong. For it was unmistakable. In that picture, in between the parents, was Thomas, their nightly visitor.

"Are you sure?" they both heard Juliet say into her phone. Her voice pulled them out of their silent conversation, and Gus suddenly found that he was sweating. "Okay, thanks for letting me know…" Juliet hung up the phone. She put her phone in her pocket and looked up at Lassiter, Shawn, and Gus.

"That was forensics," Juliet explained. "They got a positive match for the fingerprints on the murder weapon." She looked sad and confused. She took in a deep breath, before finally admitting, "They belong to Daniel Brookes."

* * *

Following the discovery of the real identity of the nightly visitor, Shawn and Gus were quick to leave the crime scene. Gus had wanted to spill his guts to the cops in front of him right then and there, but Shawn wouldn't have it. He practically dragged his friend away from the house and towards the car. When Gus made no move to enter, let alone drive, Shawn shoved him in the passenger's seat, stealing the car keys as he did. Shawn then made his way to the driver's seat and quickly drove to the Psych office.

Gus yelled the entire way there. He couldn't believe that Shawn had no intention of revealing that they were harbouring, what he continuously referred to as, a fugitive. Shawn refused to view Thomas – Daniel! His name is Daniel! – as a fugitive. He wasn't, there was no possible way he was a fugitive. There must be a mistake.

When they arrived at the office, Gus threw open the doors and charged towards the front door. Shawn raced after him and moved in between the building and his friend.

"Gus, wait, can you just hear me out?!" Shawn tried.

"Shawn, I told you! I told you, I _told_ you!" Gus yelled. "That kid is a fugitive!"

"He's not a fugitive! He's misunderstood!"

"Misunderstood? That's a fancy way of saying his fingerprints were found on the murder weapon!"

"You may have been right about who Thomas is, but you're wrong about this!"

"Am I? Really? Think about it, Shawn! He comes out of nowhere, days after we're given the case with no place to stay and no mother. He doesn't want to involve the cops, and now he's looking for his father. You really think there's nothing going on here?"

"Gus, listen to yourself! Are you really saying an _eight year old_ killed his mother?"

"Not directly, but he has a role in it, Shawn! And it's not our decision. The detectives want to talk to him and right now, we're hindering an investigation by keeping him! We're harbouring a fugitive!"

"Something's not right here, there's just no way he had any role in this! I'm telling you, something's messed up!"

"Now _you_ sound ridiculous," Gus said exasperatedly. "Are you really saying someone is _framing_ an eight year old?"

"No… I… Gus, please, hear me out. Something is not right here and I think if we tell the cops where Daniel is, this is going to get a hell of a lot worse."

"Shawn, I'm not going to lie to the cops… again!" Shawn hesitated.

"Then don't," he said at last. "Look, I gotta do this, okay? I really believe Daniel has done nothing wrong. I think he's misunderstood, I think there's a lot more going on than the small tiny bit we have scratched off the surface, and I believe Daniel is the key to finding it out. But he's not going to talk to a bunch of cops. He seems genuinely _terrified_ of them!" Gus said nothing as he stared at his friend, actually hearing him out. It was clear as day that Shawn truly believed this was the right thing to do. "So… fine, Gus, I'm not going to drag you into this one. So go, do your route or whatever it is you do at your other job. I'll take Daniel somewhere safe, and I won't tell you where so that if anyone asks you, you can honestly say you don't know. And if they have some reason to hold you or demand you give answers then… you do what you gotta do."

Gus paused. He didn't know what to say to that. His friend, his absolutely mad friend who would drag him to hell and back against his will, was giving him an out? Why? And to top it all off, why was he so desperate to save Daniel.

It finally occurred to Gus that the only reason Shawn would do any of this was if he actually cared about the kid, whether he knew him as Thomas or Daniel, it didn't matter. Gus thought back to earlier that morning, when Shawn had gone to _Target_ to pick up clothes for Daniel. Hadn't he gotten him a _Star Wars_ shirt, after Daniel had explicitly said how much he loved the series the night before? And didn't Shawn also get him the _Hot Wheels_ toy after hearing how jealous Daniel was of one of his friends? Gus sighed and conceded defeat.

"Fine, Shawn," Gus said. "You do what you gotta do." Gus held out his hand and Shawn tentatively gave him his car keys. Gus turned away and walked towards his car. He opened the door for the driver's seat and paused. He looked up at his friend who hadn't moved yet. "Be careful, Shawn." Shawn nodded his head and Gus climbed into his car.

And with that, the two friends parted ways.


	7. Psychic Protege

**Hello lovelys!**

 **So as I'm writing this I am so eagerly awaiting to upload it. I've never really been so strict with myself about uploading before, I usually start posting when I'm a couple chapters ahead, but now I'm really making sure to be completely finished before posting and it's HARD! A** **nyways, after this chapter we'll be more than halfway through! There's a lot, I'm swamped, it's almost one am. Let's do this!**

 **So originally this was two different chapters, but they were both pretty short and meshed well together so I've combined them. Thanks for the support so far guys, it means the world! please keep it up, drop me a review if you liked it (or didn't like it! I can improve!)**

* * *

Shawn watched as his best friend drove away. They had only ever really gone their separate ways one other time before in their entire life, and that was a mess within itself for its own reason. The last time was when Shawn had just graduated high school and planned to go on a road trip by himself. It had strained their relationship to new extremes, but assured the both of them that their friendship could survive just about anything. Shawn kept that thought in mind as he turned away from where his friend once was and made his way into his office.

Daniel was sitting on the same couch he had always sat on when he was in the office. Shawn was pleased to find that this time, however, he was happily playing with his new _Hot Wheels_ toy, rather than closing in on himself. Daniel looked up when he heard the door open and some of his earlier shyness crept back in. Shawn offered a smile and Daniel returned it, but didn't go back to playing with his toy. Shawn sighed and approached the young boy.

"Hey, um… Dan – Thomas," Shawn quickly corrected himself, Daniel didn't seem to notice. "Um… I need to talk to you, kid." Daniel looked up, for a moment he looked terrified, but then he returned to his shy demeanor. "Why don't we go for a walk? I'll take you to the pier." Daniel's face lit up and he nodded his head. Shawn headed for the door and motioned for Daniel to follow. The young boy excitedly jumped off and followed the psychic.

The two of them walked on the pier for a while, neither one of them saying anything. Shawn wished he didn't have to confront the kid, he seemed so calm and happy for once. He really wished he didn't have to say anything, but he knew he had to. His parents were dead and there was a potential murderer out to get him. He needed to talk to him and he needed Daniel to trust him. So, after a little while more of walking, Shawn chose a bench with a good view of the sea. They sat down for a moment longer. Shawn sighed and knew he had to start.

"So, Thomas… I…" Shawn stopped, how was he even supposed to approach this? He sighed again, mentally cursing his father for making him this emotionally incompetent. "I know," he said at last.

Daniel looked up at him, for a moment fear flashed in his eyes, but then he said, "Know what?"

"I know a lot more than you think I do, Daniel."

The young boy froze at the use of his real name. His eyes were wide and panicked while his lip trembled. He looked as if he was about to say something, but decided against it. He instead pulled his knees up to his chest and buried his face in his hands.

"Hey, Daniel, listen… I'm not mad at you, okay?" Shawn assured him. Daniel peaked out of his hands. "I promise, I'm not mad at you. I just want to understand. Why did you lie to me?" Daniel went back to hiding his face. "I want to help you, that's always what I've wanted to do, but I can't do that if you're not honest. Do you understand?"

Shawn could only just make up the slight nod of his head. "Okay. So tell me, why did you lie?"

Daniel just shrugged his shoulders. "Come on, kid," Shawn said. "I just want to understand. I'm not mad."

Slowly, Daniel raised his head. He opened his mouth and closed it several times. When he finally found his words, his voice was so quiet Shawn had to lean in to hear him properly. "The bad man hurt mom. I was scared he would find me and hurt me too."

Shawn stared at Daniel for a moment, trying to understand what he meant. It pained Shawn to admit, but it did take him a while to get it. When he did, he gasped and his eyes opened wide.

"That means… Daniel… were you there? When your mother died? Did you see what happened?"

"I… I…" Daniel tucked his head between his knees, a position that reminded Shawn of what people with anxiety did. His arms hugged his legs, making himself as small as humanly possible. He very quickly started to cry, his small body trembling as he did. "I don't want to talk about it! I don't wanna! I don't wanna! I don't wanna!" People that were walking along the pier turned to look at the two of them, throwing worrying glances as they did. That was the last thing Shawn needed. He offered a quick apologetic smile before moving in closer to Daniel.

"Hey, hey, hey, Daniel, it's okay," Shawn tried, and he put a hand on his back. Daniel recoiled violently and screamed.

"No!"

"Hey! Daniel, it's okay," Shawn looked around him. He was really attracting a lot of attention now, and not in the good way. Not at all. Shawn let out a breath he didn't know was holding and opted to do something a bit risky. He reached over to Daniel and picked him up out of his seat. Daniel screamed in protest, but other than that there was no other incident. Shawn, with Daniel in his arms, moved away from the very public pier. Shawn carried Daniel for another thirty seconds until they arrived at a small secluded park. Shawn sat the young boy down on a bench and crouched down in front of him.

"Daniel, hey, look at me," Shawn said calmly. Shawn waited a moment, and eventually, Daniel's screams did die down. The small boy slowly opened his eyes and stared at Shawn, his hands still on his ears. "You don't have to talk for now, okay?" Shawn asked. "Just hear me out. I want to help; I have _always_ wanted to help." Daniel's hands slowly dropped from his ears. "But in order to help you, I'm going to need you to help me out, okay?"

Daniel hesitated before slowly nodding.

"Okay," Shawn nodded and stood up. "How about we get you an ice cream and walk back to the Psych office? Then I can take you somewhere you'll be safe." Shawn offered his hand to the young boy. Daniel hesitated, staring at the outstretched hand, before slowly reaching out for it and grabbing it.

The two of them walked, with Daniel refusing to let go of Shawn's hand. Shawn didn't mind entirely, though a small part of him did wonder how many people thought Daniel was _his_ kid. Shawn shook of the thought, that wasn't important. It didn't matter and it didn't change anything. So the two of them walked, not talking about anything. Daniel had been through a lot and maybe right now all he needed was someone to hold his hand.

An ice cream stand across the road caught Daniel's attention. Shawn noticed it soon after and walked over. He bought an ice cream and handed it to the kid, all the while Daniel had still refused to let go of his hand. They walked more together until they reached the Psych office. They sat together on the steps of the office, giving Daniel the time to finish his ice cream. Once he had finished, Shawn laughed at the mess on his face. He brought him inside the office and cleaned him up. He picked up one of his bags and filled it with the clothes he had bought for Daniel and the toy. He then grabbed the spare helmet he kept at the office and fitted it on Daniel's head. He knew this wasn't the safest thing, but it was Shawn's only mode of transportation.

Shawn sat Daniel at the back of his bike. Shawn mounted the bike and asked Daniel to grab hold of him as tight as he could. Once Shawn could feel the kid's tight grab, he started the bike and took him to the only safe place he could think of, his own home.

* * *

It didn't take long before Shawn and Daniel arrived at his house. Shawn unlocked the door and walked inside. Daniel followed closely behind him, his helmet still strapped on tightly. He followed Shawn as he entered the living room and dropped of his bag. Shawn gestured to the chair next to the couch and Daniel sat in it. Shawn then walked towards his closet and pulled out some bed sheets. He quickly transformed the couch into an acceptable bed, not quite yet deciding who should get the couch and who should get the bed. He shrugged off the thought and knelt in front of the kid.

Daniel seemed to be improving, a small smile had returned to his face but he was even more quiet than he was before. He looked at Shawn but shrunk in to himself, afraid of what else Shawn may know. He was afraid of making him mad.

"Daniel… you realise we will have to talk about it soon," Shawn tried. Daniel broke eye contact with the fake psychic and looked down. "I want to help you, okay?"

"How does telling about the bad guy help finding my daddy?" Daniel asked. Shawn frowned.

"Why do you want to find him?" he hadn't meant to ask that, it just came out. Daniel looked confused at the question, but answered anyways.

"He's my daddy," he said, as if that should answer the question. "He might not have been my daddy for long, but he is."

"But he hurt you… and your mother. How could you _want_ to find him?" Now Daniel looked really confused.

"Daddy never hurt me. Or mommy."

"Yes he did. Daniel, we know, okay? Everyone knows and it's okay. It wasn't your fault, no one blames you."

"But… he never hurt me."

"Daniel – "

"He didn't! Daddy never hurt me, he never hurt mommy, and he never would! Mommy loved him, I love him, and Ria loves him too!" Shawn furrowed his eyebrows together in confusion.

"Maria?" that's when it dawned on him. Shawn closed his eyes and let out a groan. "Richard Brookes is your daddy?" it made sense. Maria said she didn't tell Daniel about the murder, so how could he have known now?

Daniel nodded his head. "He wasn't always, but he is now."

The poor little kid was never looking for his abusive biological father. He was looking for his very kind… very _dead_ step-father.

"I know where your dad is, kid," Shawn said in a soft voice.

"You do?" Daniel's face lit up. "Where is he?!"

"He's… he's gone, kiddo. And he's not coming back. Like your mommy." Daniel frowned.

"No… no daddy wouldn't do that."

"No, he wouldn't," Shawn agreed.

"Then where is he?"

"Daniel, he's gone."

"No!" Daniel tried to stand up and run, but Shawn held him down. "No, let go! I want my daddy!"

"Daniel, listen to me – "

"No, I want my daddy! I want my daddy!"

"Daniel – "

"NO!"

"Okay!" Shawn exclaimed at last. "Fine, okay, you win. I'll take you to him…"

"You will?"

"Yes… let me just make a phone call."

Shawn pulled out his phone and dialed a familiar number. He strolled around the room and made a point to ignore Daniel's smile. As Shawn walked, he noticed an old baseball cap. He grabbed it with his spare hand and walked towards Daniel. He put the cap on the boy's head. He couldn't exactly continue to bring Daniel around in public with his face showing, especially not where he knew people would be looking for him.

' _Hello?'_ Shawn heard on the other end of the phone.

"Woody! Hey, listen…" Shawn started and turned towards Daniel. "I need a big favour, but we gotta keep this off the record."

* * *

Half an hour later found Shawn and Daniel walking through the Santa Barbara Police Department. Daniel had protested at first, he didn't want to go anywhere near police, but Shawn had promised that he wouldn't leave Daniel's side for even a second. He made sure the old baseball cap he had given Daniel before would cover his face, and even got a pair of sunglasses for the kid to wear before they made their way to the station. Shawn opted to avoid the bike this time, knowing it wasn't safe for an eight year old to be riding on that thing.

The two of them walked through the station, careful to avoid any familiar faces. Daniel held Shawn's hand the entire time, not wanting to lose his new friend, especially not when there were police roaming around. He walked with Shawn through the station and finally, down to the morgue. When they got there, they were greeted by an older, balding, white man in a lab coat. The smile that the man offered made Daniel want to hide behind Shawn, but he knew he had to be strong.

"Woody, my man," Shawn greeted the man. "Is this… it?" he asked, gesturing to the obvious body on the table that was covered in a white blanket.

"Yes it is, a Mr. Rich – "

"uh-uh-uh!" Shawn interrupted the coroner. "Don't spoil it!" Woody looked at Shawn confused. "This here is Thomas Butch. He's my psychic protégé. I'm teaching him the many ways of the spirit world. Today, I'm teaching him how to speak to recently deceased spirits to try and figure out their identity." Shawn looked at Daniel, who even with the sunglasses on was throwing Shawn a very obvious sceptical look. "The sunglasses help him focus."

"Oh, of course, nice to meet you, Thomas!" Woody offered him his hand. His hand that was still gloved and had _someone's_ blood on it.

"Um… Woody," Shawn warned, eyeing the blood.

"Oh, no, that's not blood," Woody assured him. He then pulled out a tray from under the table that held fries and a sachet of ketchup. "I'm just a messy eater."

"Well, buddy, if you're struggling to come up with a Halloween outfit, I think I've got several in mind for you now," Shawn said with a smile. "Now what say you lift up this cover and let's get this psychic reading on the way!" Woody smiled and in one swift movement, he removed the cover, revealing the body underneath.

All in all, Shawn had to admit that Woody had done a good job keeping the body relatively preserved and intact. Richard Brookes, even dead, maintained many of his same features. His hair was in the same cut and same style as it had been for years, his shoulders remained broad and masculine, and his ageing detail remained faint. The stark difference was the colour. His skin was as white as the sheet that was used to cover him. Even his lips were pale, almost as white as his skin.

Daniel stared at the body on the table. Shawn could practically feel the tension building in the young boy and he knew it was time to let it out. So Shawn turned to his favourite coroner.

"Hey, do you mind if we have some time alone with the body? It's easier to train in complete silence," Shawn said.

"Say no more, I'll just top up my ketchup," Woody said. He grabbed his tray of food and walked out of the room.

Shawn looked back down to Daniel, who had now removed his glasses to get a better look at the table. He walked closer to the body, even daring to let go of Shawn's hand to get there. He stared at the body and remained silent for a moment. Shawn even started to wonder if Daniel even understood what was going on. For a moment, he worried that this was a horribly wrong idea, but he didn't know how else he could explain it. After all, the kid had already seen his mother being murdered, and he was certainly not any closer to believing Shawn when it came to Richard. At the time this seemed like the only option, but perhaps he was wrong. Shawn was proven wrong when Daniel finally spoke.

"That's… that's…"

"I know," Shawn said, watching Daniel even more carefully. He noticed a tear roll down Daniel's cheek and he thought, all things considered, the kid was holding together very well.

"He's just sleeping, right?" Daniel turned to face Shawn. "He's just sleeping. He has to be, he wouldn't just leave! He's sleeping, right?!"

"I'm sorry, Daniel," Shawn said softly.

"No… no!" Daniel turned back to Richard's lifeless body. He reached out a hand to touch his father's face. "Daddy, wake up. Please wake up! Daddy – " Daniel gasped and recoiled his hand the instant it made contact with the dead man's skin. Daniel stared at his hand for a moment, almost offended by it. He reached for Richard's face again, but this time wasn't so shocked by the icy coldness of his skin. "Daddy?" he called in a weak voice. When no one answered, Daniel withdrew his hand and shoved it in his pocket. "He's so cold," Daniel said. He paused for a moment before looking up at Shawn. "He's not going to wake up… is he?"

"I'm sorry, kiddo," Shawn said. Daniel nodded and looked down. Silently, the tears started streaming down his face. Shawn hesitated before putting an arm around the young boy. To Shawn's surprise, Daniel didn't flinch away from the touch. Instead, he leaned into it. Shawn rubbed his back and Daniel cried some more, allowing himself to make a few whimpering sounds as he sobbed. He then turned around and collided into Shawn, wrapping his small arms around the psychic detective, and crying his little eyes out. Shawn hesitated, blaming his reaction on shock, before wrapping his own arms around the kid. He found himself cooing to Daniel, while rubbing circles into his back.

Daniel cried and cried, soaking Shawn's shirt as he did. Shawn found that he didn't care, he simply kept comforting the poor boy. Daniel kept crying until he had no more tears left. Then he moaned a howled into Shawn's chest, until he had no more energy left to even stand. He started to collapse to the floor, and Shawn let him, kneeling to the ground with him to be sure he didn't hurt himself. Daniel's entire body weight was on Shawn, and the psychic held him and rubbed his back until eventually, he fell asleep. Shawn hugged him tight, trying to offer what little support he could. They sat like that for a while before Shawn decided it was time to go back home.

Shawn scooped up the young boy and stood. Daniel's head rested on Shawn's shoulder, and Shawn wrapped his arms around the young boy. He carried him out of the room and up the stairs. Luckily for him, this was a very calm day in the station and it was a particularly quiet hour. Shawn was able to sneak out of the precinct without anyone questioning him. He quickly found a taxi waiting across the street. He climbed into it, gave the driver his address, and waited to arrive home. He still held Daniel close to him, even though he knew Daniel was unlikely to be aware that he was even doing this. All Shawn knew was that he couldn't wait to be home. It was a very long day indeed, and they both needed rest.


	8. Warrant

**Hello lovelys!**

 **So, more "as I'm writing the fic" notes… I had originally planned to finish this by the end of summer. It is now the beginning of Winter and I'm picking it up again. Good thing I was strict with myself and didn't start uploading until I was finished!**

 **Thanks everyone for reading/reviewing/following! You have no idea how much it makes my day to get a new notification on this fic. Please, keep it coming, let me know what you're thinking!**

* * *

It was eight o'clock the next morning when Shawn woke up. He was confused at first, wondering what on Earth had made him wake so early in the day. He looked around and noticed he was in his living room on his couch. This confused him further, until he remembered the young boy. Daniel was sleeping in his bed, Shawn had wanted stay outside so as to offer some form of protection in case someone should break in. That answered one question, so Shawn sat up and tried to figure out why he had woken up at all.

The banging on the door came again, causing Shawn to jump and instantly answering his question. The psychic squinted his eyes and glared at the door. For as many powers as he claimed to have, he had no idea who could possibly be at his door right now. So, Shawn finally stood up. He opened the door and was greeted by his two favourite detectives. Lassiter looked annoyed beyond belief and Juliet looked exhausted. For a moment, Shawn felt truly guilty and wondered if he was doing the right thing by hiding Daniel. He shook the thought off and instinctively pulled the door closer to him, so as to limit the detective's view into his house.

"Morning, detectives," Shawn greeted.

"Spencer," Lassiter's greeting was cold, even by his standards. "Can we come in?" he asked as gently as he could muster, but it was still cold enough to freeze hell over twice.

The head detective's behaviour confused him for a moment. After all, if they suspected him and wanted to ask questions, surely they'd just drag him to the station. That was when it finally dawned on the psychic. They were trying to question him without a warrant. Shawn's heart dropped for just a second. He recovered quickly, reminding himself that if they didn't have a warrant then he really held all the cards.

"I'd rather you didn't, Lassie-pants. Why don't you just talk to me from there?" Shawn said. Lassiter opened his mouth to say something, and perhaps for everyone's best interest, Juliet spoke up instead.

"Shawn, we have reason to believe you know where Daniel Brookes is," she said in an exhausted tone. There was the guilty feeling again.

"And what reasons might those be?" Shawn asked.

"We talked to Gus," Juliet answered. "You guys got into a fight as soon as you found out about Daniel's prints on the weapon. You've never fought on a case, and you've certainly never split up. So that made us think that you knew more than you were letting on. When we talked to him… he lied to us. Badly."

"What did Gus say?" Shawn asked.

"That's classified," Lassiter butted in.

"Fine," Shawn said. "Gus and I fought, yes, but we always fight. This will blow over just like They always do. The fact remains, though, that Gus doesn't know anything. He's not lying."

"So there is something going on then?" Lassiter asked. Shawn hesitated.

"I didn't say that – "

"Not directly, no," Lassiter glared hard at the psychic and for the first time in a long time, Shawn felt worried.

"We know you know something, Shawn," Juliet interrupted. "You and Gus get into a fight, which you never do. You disappeared after finding out what Daniel looks like and after finding out that his fingerprints are on the murder weapon. _And_ to top it all off, you bought children's clothes yesterday _and_ a toy."

Shawn turned his worried gaze to the junior detective. "You looked into my credit history?" he asked.

"We had a hunch that you might know something," Juliet explained. "It's standard procedure." There was a pause. Once it was clear that Shawn wasn't going to say anything, not even try to come up with an excuse for the clothes, Juliet spoke up again, "Look, I'm sure this can all be easily explained. No matter how bad the situation might look, I'm sure it will work out and you can explain to us what happened. This case is getting to all of us, we're all struggling, and I promise we won't hold it against you… but you need to come forward. You need to let us in and talk to us."

"I can't do that, Jules," Shawn said quietly.

"Listen you little idiot," Lassiter growled. "We are giving you a chance here. If you come forward, if you just _admit_ you've screwed up and tell us what we need to know, we'll let it go and consider it as you assisting us. We are giving you this _one chance_ to cooperate. If you refuse now, then anything we find later we _will_ charge you with. Am I understood?"

"Perfectly," Shawn said in small voice.

"Then let us in."

"Do you have a warrant?"

"Shawn…" Juliet said in an exasperated voice.

"No," Carlton admitted through clenched teeth.

"Then I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave." The detectives stayed still for a while.

"Fine," Lassiter grumbled and stormed away. "O'Hara!" he yelled out. Juliet stayed a moment longer, looking at Shawn with sad eyes

"This case is getting to all of us," Juliet said quietly. "It's difficult and we're trying to stay strong and do what's right. Please don't let this ruin you."

"Jules, I don't care about that. If it ruins me, it ruins me, but I couldn't live with myself if – "

"I don't mean your job," she snapped.

"O'Hara!" Lassiter yelled out again.

Juliet shot Shawn one final meaningful glance and then turned to follow her partner. Shawn stared after her for a while. Even when she was out of sight, Shawn still stared. He felt bad; truly he did, for lying and for adding so much stress to the already exhausted detectives. But Juliet seemed to understand why he was doing it, though she may not directly tell him in explicit words nor would she necessarily approve. Shawn didn't quite know what to make of her comment, but one thing he knew for certain, he needed to take Daniel and leave.

There was no doubt in his mind that Lassiter and Juliet would return as soon as possible with a search warrant, so he'd have to be gone by then. So with that thought in mind, Shawn closed the front door and made his way back into his house to wake Daniel up. He had just gotten to the bedroom door when his cell phone rang. He quickly glanced at the caller ID and found that he didn't recognise the person calling. Curious, he picked up.

"Hello?" he answered.

' _Shawn Spencer?'_ a woman's voice responded on the other end. _'Um… you probably don't know who I am, my name is Maria Matthews. I've been told that you know where I could find Daniel Brookes?'_

Shawn stood still and he could feel his blood freeze over with a million questions spinning through his mind. Was Maria really a suspect? Yes, he trusted her at first, but the whole situation was completely different now. Could she really be the one behind these murders and now was trying to find Daniel? How did she even know to follow up with Shawn? How did she get his number?

"I…" was the beginning of Shawn's marvellous response. "I'm not quite sure… I – "

' _I met with Burton Guster yesterday, he told me if I was really concerned about Daniel I should call you, he gave me your phone number too,'_ Maria explained.

"You talked to Gus? When? Why?" Shawn asked.

' _Yesterday, I went to your office and he was there. Look, I'm trying to find Daniel. Can you help me, or am I just wasting time calling you?'_

"I… might be able to help you," Shawn admitted at last. He wasn't sure if it was the right move to trust Maria, but Gus did. At least he trusted her enough yesterday to give her his number so… "Meet me at my office again in ten minutes. I don't have a lot of time so don't be late."

' _Okay. Great, thank you,'_ Maria said, and with that the line went dead.

Shawn quickly changed his clothes and then went to wake Daniel up. He opened the bedroom door and walked over to his bed, where the small figure was still curled up underneath the blankets.

"Daniel, wake up," Shawn said softly, gently shaking the young boy. His eyes fluttered open and he immediately made eye contact with Shawn. "I have to go somewhere, it's very important that I do. I won't be long, half an hour tops, but I'm going to have to leave you here alone. Keep all the windows, doors, and curtains closed. Don't open the door to anyone, don't even look out the window. Stay hidden. If anyone even tries to get in, hide. Got it?"

Daniel's eyes widened with alertness as he took in Shawn's urgency. He nodded his head and Shawn attempted a smile, "Good," he said. "Get changed too, once I get back we'll be leaving again." Shawn stood up and walked out. He made his way out of his house, double checking that he had in fact locked it, before hopping on his bike and making his way to the office.

* * *

Shawn arrived at his office in record time. Maria was already standing outside, staring anxiously as the psychic parked his bike. He took of his helmet and smiled at Maria.

"I take it you're Maria Matthews?" he asked. When she nodded he smiled and got off his bike. "I'm Shawn. So, you talked to Gus yesterday?"

"Yes, I did," she said. "I went to your office yesterday after the police interrogated me again. They're useless, spending their time on me, so I thought I'd reach out to you guys. Of course, only Mr. Guster was here yesterday. He said he knew where Daniel was two days ago, but doesn't know where he is now and if I wanted to know more I should get into contact with you."

"Yeah, I might know a bit more than Gus does at the moment," Shawn admitted. "But why should I trust you?"

"Excuse me?" Maria said incredulously. "I should be asking _you_ that question. Don't tell me you're as incompetent as that damned police force. Though really, I don't see how that's possible. They must be the most incompetent cops I've ever seen if their only suspects are me and an 8 year old boy. I mean, what in god's Earth gives them that idea?!"

"Well…" Shawn started, feeling a bit of guilt. "I may have found Richard Brooke's will recently stating that in the event of both of their deaths, all of his money would go to Daniel."

"So you're suggesting an _eight year old_ killed his parents for the money?" Maria looked furious.

"No, not at all. After all, Daniel wouldn't even see that money until he turned eighteen. His new legal guardian, on the other hand…" Shawn let the point drift off. Understanding reached Maria's eyes.

"Oh," was all she could say.

"And the reason they're looking for Daniel is because his fingerprints were found all over the knife used to kill his mother. If it weren't for his age, he'd be the prime suspect."

"As it stands, he _is_ still a suspect," she hissed.

"It's complicated," Shawn defended. "They think he at least plays a part in the murder."

"What, because of his damned prints? There are any number of reasons they could be there, and I'm pretty sure I know the correct one. It's not his fault, dammit!" Shawn raised an eyebrow. Maria sighed and continued.

"Ever since the mess with his biological father, all the abuse he both witnessed and suffered, he's… picked up some habits," Maria explained. "He hates to be touched, when he feels like he's being yelled at he covers his ears, he hides in closets when he's scared, he takes orders literally, especially under stress – though he's getting better at that one – and finally, if he sees anything with blood on it he hides it. I don't understand why and I've been trying to get him to stop, but it's almost like a compulsion for him. I once cut myself cooking and he hid the knife in my couch pillows. I only found it weeks later when I was cleaning the crumbs out of the couch and nearly stabbed myself. Another time, Daniel fell and scraped his knee, so he hid his jeans in the bush outside and spent the rest of the day walking around in his underpants. I tried to explain that to the cops, but they won't listen. They think I'm just covering for him, or that I'm involved in the murder and am trying to throw them off. I don't know, but I'm telling the truth. I mean, what would it take for them to finally get off my back and look at real suspects?"

Shawn listened quietly to her full story. He could see the habits she talked about, he certainly already noticed the aversion to being touched. That also explained why Daniel constantly hid in their closet at the office. He had no proof for his compulsion to hide bloody items, but he supposed he could believe that too. But, he just didn't quite trust the woman yet.

"Do you have an alibi?"

"What? No. At least not any that anyone else can confirm."

"For Sofia's murder, I heard. What about for Richard's murder?" Shawn asked.

"What, they think I did that too?" she asked, her eyes widening.

"They think the murders are connected."

"Well…." She thought back to the night Richard died over a week ago. "Yes, actually. Daniel had a bad dream and wet the bed, so I was helping him through that in the morning. Then I drove us both to school and picked him up after and we spent the rest of the day together."

"So Daniel is your alibi?" Shawn clarified. Maria nodded. "So, in order to clear your name, we'll need to bring Daniel to the police." Maria froze and looked down. An idea popped into Shawn's mind and he thought to test her. "I can arrange that, if you want. I know where Daniel is so I could bring him to the police and we can clear your name right now."

"What?"

"That would do it for sure," Shawn lied. "And the cops wouldn't bother you anymore. Sounds good? Is that everything you wanted to talk to me about?"

"No. No! What the _hell_ is wrong with you?! He's a little boy for God's sake! The police's interference is annoying, but I'd take that a thousand times than subject _Daniel_ to it! He didn't do anything wrong, _that's_ what I came here to talk to you about! How dare you even _suggest_ that! You jerk! You- you absolute – " Maria stopped mid sentence, finally taking in the look Shawn was giving her. "Oh, you asshole," she said calmly shaking her head.

"Sorry," Shawn said, his smile still stretched from ear to ear. "I just wanted to be sure. Just to be clear, I would never do that to Daniel. I really am just trying to help, I don't think the police are right in the way they're approaching this, but I can see where they're coming from. They mean well."

Maria nodded, but didn't quite believe him yet. "So what now? What's happening with Daniel? Is he okay?"

"Daniel's fine, he had a bit of a rough day yesterday and as a result slept for about half a day, but he's doing okay," Shawn reported. "At the moment though, I'm in a bit of a hurry. The cops are onto the fact that I might know something so I need to get out of here fast. I just don't know where yet."

"Why don't you stay with me?" Maria suggested. Shawn gave her a sceptical look, but Maria insisted, "No, really. Look, the cops have already searched my place. Granted, without a warrant, I let them in out of the kindness of my heart. But they've already had a look around my place, they're not exactly going to be coming back anytime soon, certainly not to search extensively. So it's a good place to hide.

"Don't you think you're place would be the first thought anyone looking for Daniel would have?"

"Well exactly. No one's going to think we're stupid enough to hide Daniel with me. And plus, if they catch wind of the plan, then fine, we can hide him again."

"As crazy as your point may be, it's valid," Shawn said, genuinely thinking it over. He sighed and conceded defeat. "I've always been a sucker for the crazy plans."

So with that, everything was decided. Maria gave Shawn her address and phone number, should anything go wrong. They agreed to meet there in half an hour. That gave Shawn enough time to go back home, clean up any evidence that a child was staying at his place, not to mention anything that might give off the idea that he wasn't psychic, and enough time to actually get to Maria's. Shawn knew he'd have to be quick, God only knew how far Lassiter and Juliet had gone in getting a search warrant. So with a quick goodbye, Shawn was off.


	9. Star Wars Talk

**Hello lovelys!**

 **I really can't wait to be done with this fic. Not because I'm bored or its dragging out or anything, I just find it extremely weird to be writing so much and never getting any feedback. Soon! There should only be about 5 chapters left now! Also this chapter took a turn I did not plan, but it's fine because I've adapted.**

 **Sorry for uploading late. Maybe you haven't even noticed, I usually update Thursdays, but I had computer issues yesterday hence why it's late. Anyways, hope you like it, please let me know if you do!**

* * *

Shawn arrived at Maria's house on his bike, with little Daniel clinging on behind him. It had only taken him ten minutes to clean up his house, and less than fifteen to drive to Maria, but the woman in question was already outside eagerly awaiting their arrival. The second that Daniel realised where they were, he became fidgety. He wouldn't sit still anymore, and while driving, Shawn even had to slow down and warn him not to move so much. Once he drove up the driveway of the house and parked the bike, Daniel jumped off the bike and ran to Maria's arms, crying as he did and helmet still fastened tightly on. Maria kneeled down to greet him and embraced him with open arms in a tight hug. Shawn observed still on his bike with a smile on his face. The kid may have had a messed up childhood, but at least he had Maria.

Shawn took his time unfastening his helmet and locking his bike. He then grabbed the bags he had packed in a haste out of the compartment in his bike. He then happily strode over towards the front door. Maria was standing now, with Daniel hugging her leg. Shawn smiled at the kid and then looked up to meet Maria's gaze. He almost stopped dead in his track when he noticed her expression. She did _not_ look impressed.

"You drove your very dangerous motorbike… with an _eight year old_ hanging on behind you?" Maria demanded.

"I didn't exactly have another choice," Shawn defended. "That bike is the only vehicle I own."

"You couldn't have called a taxi?"

"Now where's the fun in that?" Shawn teased, but when Maria made a move towards him, he had to raise his hands in defence and laugh. "Come on, Ria, I was in a bit of a hurry. I couldn't exactly wait for a cab to arrive."

"What?"

"Huh?"

"What did you call me?" Maria asked. Shawn scrunched his eyebrows then realised what he said.

"Oh, sorry. Daniel talks about you a lot and he always calls you Ria."

"Yeah, he's the _only_ one that does," she said sternly.

"Sorry," Shawn said again, trying make peace.

Maria nodded and gestured for the psychic to follow her and she moved for the front door. They moved towards the door together, Daniel clinging onto Maria like his life depended on it. She opened the front door and the young boy stared at the inside in wonder for just a moment before smiling and running in. Shawn and Maria smiled after him, simply happy to see the kid with a smile on his face. Maria shifted her smile to the pseudo-psychic and then held the door wide open for him. Shawn shot her a charming smile and walked in.

"Thanks," Shawn said as he gave the house a quick look over. "Ria," he added quietly.

Maria froze for a second, but shut the door behind them. "Asshole," he heard her mumble. Shawn chuckled and quickly admired the house.

It was a small detached house, only one story which was to be expected from a single woman in her early-thirties. The living room was just ahead with its own backdoor leading to the garden. It was a modest room that was clearly equipped for a child as there were more toys than any kid could want. In fact, Daniel could be found playing with his toy cars in the corner. Shawn smiled as he noticed one of the cars in the kids hands was the car Shawn had bought him not long ago. To the left were two bedrooms, one at the end of the hall covered with pink and purple – which Shawn assumed was Maria's room. Just to the right of the front door was the door to the garage, which Shawn made a note to put his bike into. And finally, the last room was just beyond the garage, to the right of the living room, the kitchen. It was the highlight of the house, with counter lining every wall and a small island in the middle. A small dining table was found in the corner, just big enough for three people.

"Daniel and I will share my room," Maria explained. "And you can take the guest room."

"Oh no, don't worry about me, I'm happy to sleep on the couch if it's easier," Shawn said.

"No I…" Maria paused and looked towards Daniel. "I want to be close to him." she admitted. She sighed and looked up at Shawn. "I thought he was lost. I didn't think I'd be able to see him again, and if I'm honest, I'm still worried he's going to be taken away. I want what's best for him and maybe… that's not me."

"What, are you kidding me? You've been so good to Daniel. He's been talking about you nonstop since I found him," Shawn assured her. "Ria this, Ria that… he really loves you."

Maria smiled up at him, "Really?" she asked.

"Definitely," Shawn said. "Plus, look at this place. Any kid would be happy here."

Her smile widened. "Well, in any case," she said. "I certainly won't be considered as a parent figure if the cops think I killed his parents."

"I'm working on that," Shawn promised.

"Daniel doesn't know," Maria continued. "And… I think I'd like to keep it that way for a bit longer. At least until this calms down a bit."

"He already knows."

"What? How?"

"Well, I'm pretty sure he witnessed Sofia's murder, he was hiding in her closet when it happens. Which reminds me, I'm going to have to talk to him about that, so I'm glad we were able to find a comfortable place for him – "

"Now wait just a minute – "

"As for Richard's murder, I told him about that yesterday."

"What?!"

"He didn't take that one particularly well, but he's a trooper – "

"How _dare_ you! He's just a – "

"Yes, I know," Shawn cut her off irritated. "He's just a little boy. An _eight year old_ boy. I know, I'm not blind. Or deaf, for that matter. But he's been through a lot already and as a result he's a lot more mature and capable than you give him credit for."

"You don't even know him."

"Admittedly, no. I don't know him nearly as well as you do. But I _do_ know that he is a very smart kid, capable of living on his own for days on end and navigating his way alone around Santa Barbara to find a pier that he only knows through his father. And I know he understand more than what's expected of him on what's going on around him, certainly enough to know how to blackmail me into helping him out." Maria was silent, so Shawn continued. "He's a young kid, who in many respects missed out on his childhood, and I'm glad he's got you to provide that. But like it or not what he's been through has changed him. He's handling these deaths remarkably well, and there's no doubt in my mind that he fully understands what's happening. I mean hell, he even understands that there's someone out there who may try to hurt him. And he figured that out _without_ my help."

"You still had no right to tell him," Maria said quietly.

"Maybe not, but I had a responsibility to. He was lost and scared and looking for Richard. What was I supposed to do, keep on lying to him?"

"Please stop fighting," they both heard a small voice plead. Shawn and Maria slowly turned their head towards the living room where Daniel was sitting staring right back at them with his hands on his ears.

"Oh, sweetie," Maria didn't even hesitate as she strode towards Daniel. She kneeled down and held him tightly in a hug.

It took Shawn a bit longer as he stared at the scene for a moment. He then slowly walked towards the two of them and ruffled Daniel's hair. "I'm sorry, kiddo," he said. When he made a move to remove his hand. Daniel grabbed hold of it. Shawn and Maria exchanged a look, both surprised that not only did Daniel not flinch away from his touch, he actually wanted it. So Shawn kneeled down as well and rubbed circles in the young boy's back.

They sat like that for a while, waiting for Daniel to calm down. Shawn supposed there were multiple reasons for Daniel's breakdown, not all of them due to their fighting. He had just heard some terrible news the day before and now he was practically on the run, that much he understood. He was in a familiar place, but everything was different. Add to it two people arguing, which he hated, it must have confused him. it might have even reminded him of some arguments he was previously forced to witness and do nothing about. So Shawn and Maria were patient with him. When Daniel had recovered, Shawn and Daniel played with his toys, while Maria went to make pancakes.

The rest of the day, upon Maria's insistence, was spent more or less the same way. The way she saw it, Daniel had been through enough the past week and he needed some normalcy in his life. Shawn couldn't find the will to argue against that, so he didn't. He just enjoyed the time they all spent together and was happy to see the small smidge of a childhood he remembered hoping for the young kid who lived in the Brooke's residence.

It wasn't until just after dinner at six that their peace was disrupted. Daniel was complaining and trying to convince Maria that he didn't need a bed time anymore, seeing as during his time away he slept whenever he wanted. Yes, that included when Shawn was taking care of him. Maria was about to turn her playful argument to Shawn when a phone call saved him. Shawn excused himself and checked his phone, seeing that it was his father who was calling him. He got up away from the small table in the kitchen and walked to the living room.

"Hello?"

' _Shawn, where the hell are you?'_ Henry Spencer responded on the other end.

"Why hello, father, I'm doing well, how are you? It's so _good_ to hear from you at a time like this," Shawn continued his make believe conversation.

' _Stop messing around, kid. You've messed up big. Wanna tell me why I had two detectives show up at my door an hour ago demanding to know where my son was?'_

"You know, ordinarily I would love to tell you, but something tells me my minute is up and I should be wrapping this lovely conversation up right about now – "

' _No one's tracing this call. I covered for you,_ this _time Shawn!'_

"You didn't cover for me; you have no idea where I am."

' _Even so, they wanted me to agree to calling you to get a location. Or setting up a trace on my phone in case you ever called me. I told them they didn't have any reason or warrant for that and told them to get out. So, in that respect, you owe me. Now tell me what messed up plan you've gotten yourself into this time.'_

"This time? Why do you say this time as if this is some regular occurrence for me?"

' _Are you seriously asking?'_

"Dad, this is ridiculous. You're being insane. Have you ever thought maybe I'm helping someone? Or is the police department always so pristine and perfect that it can never do any wrong?"

' _Shawn, that's not what I said – '_

"No, you just assume if I'm involved it _must_ be crazy."

' _Will you listen to yourself?'_

"Excuse me?"

' _Look, just tell me, is it true? Are you really hiding a fugitive?'_

"If by fugitive you mean innocent kid who's caught up in the contrived procedures of the police department? Then yes."

' _Shawn…'_

"Dad, I think the less you know the better."

' _Huh… so it's true…'_

"What's true?"

' _No, nothing. Something Gus said.'_ Shawn said nothing. He really hoped he hadn't caused Gus too much trouble. First the cops, now his own father had gone to bother him? Shawn would have to apologise when this was all over. Henry continued talking on the other end.

' _Every cop comes across a case like this, at least once in their life time,'_ he said calmly. _'You get personally invested in the victim and suddenly you find yourself incapable of seeing in black and white. Your whole life has been in the grey area, but I knew even_ you _would come across a case like this. So long as you do what you feel is right… no one's really going to hold this against you.'_

"That sounds eerily similar to some advice I got just this morning," Shawn muttered.

' _Then maybe you should take it,'_ Henry said. He sighed on the other end of the call, ' _I'll leave you to it then. Don't be afraid to ask for help every now and then from people you trust. I think you'd be surprised to find who would be willing to help.'_

And with that last piece of advice, Henry hung up the phone. Shawn stared at his phone for a moment before shaking his head, tucking his phone into his back pocket, and moving back to the kitchen. Maria and Daniel sat where they were before, trying to hide the fact that they were listening into the conversation. Shawn sat down at his seat and picked at the bits of food he left on his plate. There was an awkward silence that enveloped the three of them. It was Daniel who interrupted it.

"Was that your daddy?" he asked. Shawn looked up and smiled and Daniel.

"Yeah, it was. Crazy old man," he said gently.

"Do you not love him?"

"Daniel!" Maria chastised him.

"No, it's alright," Shawn said quickly. "What makes you think that?"

"You were yelling at each other," Daniel explained. "You spent the whole time arguing."

"Ah, nah. That's just how we are as people. We're too stubborn to have normal conversations."

"I don't understand," Daniel admitted.

"Well… look, kid, relationships can be complicated. One thing's for sure, at least that I've noticed, is that just because someone yells at you, or just because someone's angry at you… that doesn't mean they don't love you. Sometimes, the fact that they yell at all is a sign that they care. Of course, that's not always the case, but… ah, take my dad for instance. Growing up, he'd get upset at me, lecture me, send me to time outs, and for the longest time I thought it was because he hated me. And in turn, I hated him. But as I grew up, I realised the only reason he yelled was because he cared. Because he wanted better from me than to be sent to the principles office for setting free my frog I was meant to dissect," at this, Daniel chuckled. Shawn smiled and continued, "It was my mother that made me realise. She'd never get mad at me, never be upset if I got a bad grade or anything. And for the longest time, _that_ was why I loved her so much. But it was only recently that I realised that she never got mad because… she never cared. Do you get what I'm saying?"

Daniel slowly nodded his head. "I think so." Daniel paused for a moment, looking deep in thought. "So, do you love your daddy now?"

Shawn hesitated. He was never outright asked this question, but the answer came to him as clearly as Daniel's innocence did. "Of course I love him. and I'm sure he loves me too, even if we don't always agree."

Daniel smiled up at him and nodded. "So that means I can disagree with Ria's bedtime but _still_ love her!" he exclaimed.

And so the positive atmosphere from before returned in an instant. Shawn joined forces with Daniel, insisting that late bedtimes weren't terrible. Maria glared and may have muttered "asshole" several times before lecturing Shawn for letting him stay up so late in the first place. The joking continued for the rest of the evening until Daniel finally yawned and conceded defeat. He crawled into bed, and Maria and Shawn sat in the living room chatting.

Shawn informed her of how Daniel had come to find him in the first place, and Maria told him all she could about the death. That in itself was not much news to Shawn, as he had been listening in on her first interview at the station, but he didn't interrupt. It got the stage that even the two adults became sleepy and finally said goodnight, before crawling into bed themselves.

* * *

It was nine o'clock the next day when Shawn woke up. he groaned when he noticed the time, dreading having to be up this early for the second day in a row. But, he did manage to crawl out of bed and put on some clothes. He looked in the mirror of the guest room and frowned at his hair, giving it a last minute fix up before walking out his room. He made his way to the kitchen, where Maria was making waffles and Daniel was smiling and sitting at the table. Shawn casually made his way to join the young kid, mumbling a good morning to Maria.

"My, are you always in this good a mood in the morning?" Maria asked sarcastically.

"Only when I wake up at stupid o'clock," Shawn responded.

"It's past nine," Maria noted.

"I know."

Maria rolled her eyes and poured a cup of coffee, quickly placing it in front of Shawn. "Here, you big baby."

"Thanks, Ria," Shawn said. Maria glared and looked like she was about so say something, when suddenly she smelled her burning waffles. She groaned and ran to her breakfast. Shawn and Daniel exchanged a look and chuckled.

The morning proceeded in the same care free manner. There was lots of laughing and fun all around, and all the while Shawn had a sad thought lingering in the back of his mind. He'd have to talk to Daniel about what he saw, and soon. After all, they did still have two murders to solve. He only decided to bring it up once Maria started to pick up all the plates on the table and bring them to the sink. Shawn sighed and looked at Daniel. There was a smile on his face, and Shawn really hated to be the one to take that away, but duty called.

"Daniel," he said in a serious tone. "We uh… we need to talk again."

Daniel looked up at Shawn with a confused look. "About what?"

"About what you saw when you went to visit your mom."

Plates dropped in the sink and Maria turned towards them quickly. "Is that really necessary?" she asked annoyed.

"Yes," Shawn answered simply. "Two people are dead. I may not agree with how the cops are choosing to deal with Daniel, but that doesn't mean I'm not concerned with catching the killer."

"He's just a boy – "

"A boy who witnessed a murder." When it looked like Maria wasn't going to say anything else, Shawn turned to Daniel. He was now looking down at his hands in his lap. "Kid, I know this is tough, but don't you want to find the bad man?"

"I don't want to find him," Daniel said. "He's scary."

"Okay… then I'll go look for him and send him away somewhere he can't lay a finger on you," Shawn promised. Daniel looked up with a smile. "But in order to do that, I need your help." Daniel's smile faded immediately.

"Do I have to?" he asked.

"No, you don't – " Maria tried to defend, but Shawn just shot her a look and she was quiet.

"She's right, you don't but it would _really_ help if you did," Shawn said gently. Daniel looked deep in thought, before he nodded and looked up at Shawn.

"What do I have to do?" he asked.

"I need to tell me everything you remember about that night," Shawn said. Daniel pressed his lips into a line and looked into the distance, trying to recall his worst memories.

"I… I got home and mommy was mad and sad. She went to bed early, without even tucking me in, so I tried to sleep but I couldn't. I went to mommy's room and went to her closet to sleep. I woke up when I heard her door open, I looked out and there was a bad man with a knife. He hid it under mommy's pillow and then left. I went out of the closet once I heard the front door close, and mommy was covered in blood. she wouldn't wake up. Then I saw the knife under the pillow covered in blood so I threw it out the window, because blood is bad and dirty and we couldn't have it in the house. But there was too much of, so I thought I'd go out and find daddy. And then I met you."

"How did you see the blood?" Shawn asked.

"The light was on," Daniel explained simply. "Mommy always preferred sleeping with some of the lights on."

"Was the light on when the bad man came into the room?" Shawn asked. Daniel nodded in confirmation. "Then… did you get a good look at the bad man? Could you describe him?"

"He… was a cop. He had the uniform on. That's why I couldn't go to them, they hurt mommy," Daniel explained as if it was nothing, but Shawn's eyes widened in shock. A cop? A goddamned _cop_ was involved?!

"Were there any letters on his shirt? Maybe SBPD?"

"I don't know… I can't remember."

"That's fine," Shawn assured him. "Can you try to remember the man's face?" Daniel frowned at Shawn.

"Come on, he's already given you enough," Maria defended from by the kitchen counter.

"If he's a cop, I may know someone who could help me identify him and this could be all be over," Shawn explained. "But in order to do that I need as much detail as possible." Shawn looked back at Daniel. "Do you remember anything about his face?"

"I… he had black hair," Daniel said. He looked up at Shawn, almost as if he was hoping that would be enough. Shawn nodded encouragingly, so Daniel continued. "Um… he was big. Very big. Very scary."

"What about his eyes? Did you see them?" Shawn asked.

Daniel nodded, "Blue," he said.

"Okay," Shawn nodded in response he really needed another method. Sure, he could do this all day, but that wasn't detailed enough. He needed more. An idea struck him and he almost wanted to pat himself on the back. "His face, was it kind of like _Princess Leia_ in _Star Wars_ in that it was round and with soft edges, or was it more like _Han Solo_ , with more define structures?"

Maria looked shocked and immediately tried to hold back a laugh. Daniel raised an eyebrow at Shawn, but nonetheless thought about it and answered.

"Han Solo, definitely," he said. "He had a bigger chin than Han though."

Shawn nodded. "And what about the eyes? Were they clearly visible like _Luke Skywalker_ or were they shadowed by his eyebrows and forehead like _Han Solo_?"

"Like _Luke,_ " Daniel responded.

The questioning continued like that. Shawn compared each facial feature to well known figures that Daniel would likely know. When he couldn't find a suitable _Star Wars_ character, he'd move on to another show. It carried on until Shawn had a relatively good idea of how to describe the man. No, Shawn couldn't immediately put a face to all those feature, but he did have an idea of what to do with this information.

"Thank you, Daniel," Shawn said when he was happy. "That was really helpful. Why don't you go brush your teeth and get dressed. Ria and I will clean up." Daniel nodded his head and slowly moved out of his chair.

"I remember what his shirt said," Daniel suddenly said as he was leaving the room. "It had the letters GPD on it."

"Thank you," Shawn said. Daniel attempted a smile and walked towards the bathroom. He didn't quite so gleefully run off like he usually did, but that was to be expected.

"Colour me impressed," Maria said. "You did really well. Though I'm not sure how that will help. You didn't even write anything down. How are you going to remember all that? Or do you already know who did it now?"

"No not yet, it's all just a bunch of information in my head," Shawn admitted. "Don't worry, I've got a good memory. l'll remember it all. I've gotta go out. I'll be back as soon as possible."

"Where are you going?"

"Gonna talk to Jules, one of the detectives you're so fond of," Shawn said honestly. He'd rather she knew the truth.

"You mean one of the detectives who want to arrest you?" she asked incredulously.

"She doesn't want to arrest me," Shawn thought about it for a second. "Okay, maybe she _wants_ to, but from what I learned from my dad yesterday, they don't have anything to arrest me for. They didn't find anything in my house."

"But they can still hold you for questioning," Maria pointed out.

"I'm hoping Jules will hear me out before she tries to drag me away," he said. "Though… that's why I'm telling you this. If I'm not back by five, I'm probably wrong about her. So it might be worth taking Daniel somewhere else. But I don't really see that happening. It's just a worst case scenario you should be aware about."

"Worst case scenario, huh?" Maria asked. She cocked her head to the side staring at Shawn. "You really trust her, don't you?"

Shawn shrugged his shoulders. "She's a good person. A really good person. She means well, honestly, she just wants to help and I know this case is getting to her. She'll want to help, it's just in her nature. Plus, she's not one to jump to conclusions."

Maria smiled at him. "You like her, don't you?"

"What?" Shawn responded too quickly.

"You do! You _really_ like her!" Maria laughed.

"Ria! Stop!" Shawn said, starting to blush.

Maria finished laughing to herself, but her smile never faded. "I hope you're right about her. For your sake."

Shawn returned the smile before pulling out his phone and dialing the familiar number. Juliet O'Hara picked up after two rings.

 _'What do you want?'_ Juliet answered her phone. Thankfully, she didn't sound too mad, just exhausted.

"Jules, I have a huge favour to ask of you," Shawn started.

 _'A favour? Are you serious right now? You want to ask_ me _for a favour?!'_ there was the anger. Shawn winced, but carried on.

"Yep," he said light heartedly. "Meet me at Java Juice by the Psych office in fifteen minutes. And please bring a sketch artist!" and with that, Shawn hung up.


	10. Sketch

**Hello lovelys!**

 **I keep going through phases of thinking this is the most boring fic I've ever written, to thinking it's great. I don't know, maybe once I get some feedback.**

 **Sorry, past me, you still go through those phases. Hopefully, you guys who read this now like it though! Let me know!**

 **On a separate note,shoutout to HappyNerd92 who has read and reviewed so much and has genuinely made my day, but I can't respond, so thank you for your support!**

* * *

Shawn sat just outside Java Juice waiting anxiously for Juliet. He had arrived soon after his phone call, but there was no sign of the detective. Shawn had bought two smoothies while waiting for the junior detective, the usual pineapple smoothie for himself and a special one for Juliet. He sat outside staring at the road, hoping to see the familiar green Volkswagen approach. It took another couple minutes, but eventually he did see the car. It parked outside, where it would normally be illegal to park, but he knew as a detective she could get away with it. Juliet climbed out of the car and immediately made eye contact with Shawn. Her hair was tied up in her usual tight ponytail, though that didn't stop the stray hairs from sticking out. She had sunglasses on, and Shawn knew those weren't for the bright sun but in fact to cover up the bags under her eyes. She slammed her door to her car and strode towards the psychic.

"I'm here," She said when she reached him. she was still standing and looked very impatient staring at Shawn.

"Jules, please sit, you're making me tired just looking at you," Shawn said. He could feel her piercing glare through the sunglasses and did his very best to not be phased by it. finally, Juliet pulled out a chair and sat down.

"I _cannot_ believe you," She hissed at him. "You don't let us search your apartment, then you pull a disappearing act on us, ignore all our calls and messages, somehow coerce your father into hiding you, and you _still_ have the… the _audacity_ to ask me for a favour?!"

Shawn shrugged his shoulders. "You look pretty desperate right now, I have a feeling you could use this information almost as I could," he explained simply. He picked up the green smoothie he bought earlier and passed it to Juliet.

"What the hell is that?" she asked.

"It's a green tea infused kiwi and apple smoothie," Shawn said simply. "Green tea supposedly has all the effects of caffeine without negative side effects like palpitations and nausea."

Juliet stared at the cup for a moment before snatching out of Shawn's hand. She took several big gulps, confirming Shawn's alternative theory that she was also extremely dehydrated. "So, what do you want?" she asked more calmly.

"I know who killed Sofia," Shawn stated. "Or, rather, I _saw_ who did it."

"You saw it?" Juliet asked, unamused.

"Yes. Almost as if I was looking through the eyes of an innocent eight year old boy who happened to witness the whole thing."

Juliet's eyebrows rose in a motion of understanding. "Right," she said. "So who did it?"

"I couldn't tell you," Shawn said. "That's why I needed the sketch artist. And unless he's hiding in your car – which by the way, would just be cruel – I'm guessing you didn't bring one."

"I didn't bring one, no," Juliet confirmed. "I only came at all to hear you out. You're lucky I didn't tell Carlton you called. He would have arranged for the SWAT team to have the place surrounded within the minute."

"He has no authority to do that."

"Like that would stop him." Juliet stared at Shawn. "I don't think you realise how much you've pissed us off, Shawn."

" _You're_ the one who told me to do what I thought was right – "

"That doesn't make it any easier for me right now. We're at a complete loss as to what our next step should be. We have some leads, but nothing concrete, plus a missing child, for God's sake."

"Not missing. I know – ," Shawn started.

"Please don't say that in front of me, or else I'll have to do something about it," Juliet cut him off. Now it was Shawn's turn to stare at her. He would gladly admit to be confused about her. Juliet took in his expression and sighed again. "I want to do what's right, but for the first time… I'm just not sure what that exactly is. So I'm trying to follow protocol perfectly but you make that so damn difficult," Juliet explained. "So I'm offering you an ultimatum. I'll turn a blind eye to you and what you may or may not know about Daniel. In return, you have to promise me that should things become more dangerous for the kid, or should there be more evidence linking him to the crimes, you _have_ to tell us where he is."

"Jules… I can't – "

"You _will_ or else I won't help you and I'll call Carlton right this second."

"Jules – "

"He's on speed dial, Shawn," she threatened. "And he picks up immediately when I call. Believe me, once I dial it will be two minutes until he's here and if you try to run I will cuff you to the table and charge you for obstruction of justice."

"ALeighton, let's say I do make this promise then. How exactly do you propose to ensure I follow through with it?"

"I know you, Shawn. When you promise something you keep it. Plus, I know you know that if you break this promise I will never trust you again."

Shawn pursed his lips together. She was right, of course. And he really did need her help. "What constitutes to Daniel being in danger? Or for that matter, what could further link him to the crimes?"

"I don't know. If we find out the killer is going to target him next, or if we find Daniel's prints or DNA at Richard's crime scene. Does that sound fair?"

Shawn hesitated. "Fine," he said at last. "I promise. But the threat to his life has to be real, and the link to the crimes has to be for _both_ crimes."

"Fine," Juliet agreed.

They stared at each other for a moment in stalemate. It was only when Juliet reached for her drink that Shawn cracked a smile and was able to relax again.

"So, like I was saying, I need your help and trust me when I say that the information I bring is going to help you," Shawn said.

"But you need a sketch artist?" Juliet asked. She took another gulp and ignored the brain freeze that was threatening to come. "For what you 'saw', right?" she used air quotations.

"Yeah," he answered. "Hear me out. I 'saw' the murder. I also saw that Daniel's prints are on the murder weapon because he has a compulsion to hide anything covered in blood."

"That sounds familiar," Juliet said. "I believe I heard the same reasoning from Maria Matthews."

"You may have," Shawn said. "But along with that, I saw something interesting regarding Sofia's Brooke's murder. Namely that the killer was wearing a cop's uniform."

This peaked the junior detective's interest. "He what?"

"Yep. But not one of Santa Barbara's finest. This person had three letters on it… wait, I'm seeing them…" Shawn put his hand to his forehead and closed his eyes. Juliet reached over and pushed his arms down.

"Cut the crap, Shawn. Just this once, no theatrics. There's no need to pretend, I know you're not having a vision right now," Shawn smiled. If only she knew the truth…

"You're no fun," Shawn pouted. "But fine. GPD was on his uniform."

Juliet leaned back and thought about it for a moment. She snapped her fingers as the thought hit her. "Goleta Police Department," she exclaimed. "They're the neighbouring city, just a small force. We sometimes share facilities and help each other out. I haven't personally, but I know it's common enough."

"Right, well, I was also able to 'see' the killer's face. That's why I need a sketch artist. We can then disperse them around the department and see if anyone recognises him. So please… _please_ help me out."

Juliet thought about it for a moment. it was just at that moment her phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and answered immediately. "Hey, Susan. Thanks for agreeing to meet with me on such short notice, I'm at Java Juice by the pier, do you know it? Great, I'm just sitting outside with a friend of mine who wants to talk to you. Okay, great, see you soon." Juliet hung up her phone. She looked up at Shawn and grabbed her drink again, taking a big gulp while holding back a smile.

"Susan?" Shawn asked at last. "Who, uh… who's Susan?"

"An artist friend of mine who sometimes does work for the police," Juliet explained nonchalantly. "But please, go back to begging for my help. I was enjoying that."

Shawn couldn't help but smile. "Thanks, Jules." Juliet just nodded her head in response.

The two of them spent the next five minutes chatting about nothing at all. Shawn tried to veer the topic back onto the case, but Juliet wouldn't allow it, claiming he had his chance to help out and he passed it up. Instead, Shawn decided to focus their short time alone on Juliet's health, much to her annoyance. He worried about her and managed to get her to promise to try to get more than six hours sleep – three more than she had been getting for the past week.

Susan arrived not long after. She had short curly brown hair and dressed as comfortably as she could in the California heat. She carried a small bag in one hand and a sketch pad in the other. She quickly introduced herself to Shawn before quickly catching up with Juliet, joking about how threatening she looked with her sunglasses on. Upon the detective's glare, Susan laughed and got to work.

Shawn described the man Daniel had seen as best as he could, keeping _Star Wars_ references to a minimum. The sketching session went on for fifteen minutes, with Shawn guiding Susan's work as she did. Juliet, on the other hand, enjoyed a bit of free time as she calmly sipped on her drink. Susan finished and had a satisfied grin on her face. She turned the sketch around so both Shawn and Juliet could take a good look at it. Both of their jaws dropped.

"That's no cop," Juliet said simply. "You've just described Edward Lynne."

"That… I mean, is that possible?" Shawn asked. He was surprised himself, though he supposed it wasn't like Daniel would really remember what his father looked like from so long ago. It wasn't as if he could say exactly _who_ did it.

"His alibi is pretty solid," Juliet said. "Are you _sure_ this is what you 'saw'?"

"I'm positive," Shawn said. One thing was for certain, Daniel couldn't randomly describe someone and then so accurately create a portrait of his biological father.

"Then… I don't know what to tell you."

"Was I not helpful?" Susan asked, her satisfied grin now gone.

"No, you were, thanks Susan," Juliet assured her. "This just give us completely contradicting information – "

"Which may very well be right," Shawn interjected.

"Shawn…" Juliet warned.

"What, it might be! What exactly was his alibi? Who confirmed it?"

"He was playing poker. Badly. There's a huge dent in his bank account from it, plus all his poker buddies confirmed he was there."

"His poker buddies? Where could I find them?"

"Shawn, don't be ridiculous. Don't put yourself in danger."

"Jules, I get why you have to call it a day from here, but I don't. Let me just look into this a bit more, see if I can divine anything else," Shawn insisted. Juliet hesitated.

"Fine, knock yourself out," she said at last and wrote down an address for where he could find them. "I'm not technically supposed to know where you are anyways." She handed him the address.

Shawn smiled, "Thanks, Jules." She just nodded and finished off her drink. Shawn turned to Susan, "Could I keep that sketch?"

"Of course," Susan said, ripping the page out of her book. "I only wish I could have been more helpful."

"You've been plenty helpful, Susan. I'm very grateful we were able to call upon someone with your extraordinary talents today," he gave her one of his usual charming smiles, and Susan blushed. Juliet stared at the two of them in irritation before suddenly standing up.

"I've gotta go," she said at once. "I need to get back to work. Thanks, Susan, for coming out so quickly," she smile gently at her and the two friends hugged briefly. Juliet then turned towards the psychic, her sweet smile now stiff and forced. "Shawn," she said as a goodbye before turning away towards her car.

"Hey, wait, Jules," Shawn chased after her. He only caught up with her at her car.

"What?" she asked.

"I just wanted to say thank you," he said. "Really, I know I've been a pain, but I'm so grateful for your help." Juliet was taken aback, so much so she couldn't even think of words. "Anyways, I just wanted you to know that. I'll keep you updated with anything I find." Shawn smiled a genuine smile and walked away, allowing her to go back to work.

"This isn't mutual," she called out. "Just because you give me some information doesn't mean I'll be keeping you in the loop with everything we find."

"I know," Shawn responded. "But I want to find the guy who did this. It's no use kEpping my information to myself."

And with that, they separated.

* * *

Shawn had to check the address Juliet had given him three time when he arrived. Each time he looked, he had hoped to find out that actually he had been entirely wrong. Maybe he'd mistaken the street name or the house number. But no, this dump was in fact where the poker-game-alibi had taken place. Shawn sighed and hopped off his bike, making sure it was locked and secure. He patted his pockets to make sure he had brought the sketch Susan had given him as he assumed he would need it later. He mustered up all the courage he could manage and approached the door.

He knocked twice, strong and firm, but when the front door opened all of Shawn's confidence vanished. In the doorway stood a relatively short man, but not one anyone would want to cross. He had a tear drop tattoo under his eye, among many others around his body. On his wrist, was a woman's name tattooed on, a relationship he had previously been in but recently ended, or at least that's what the new tattoo of a big 'X' over it told him.

"Nice ink," Shawn commented. "Sorry about Gloria, but you know what they say, if you love someone, let them go, and if they love you they'll come back."

The man in the door stared at Shawn for exactly two seconds before making a move to slam the door shut. Shawn quickly put a foot and arm in the way. "Woah there, big guy," Shawn interrupted. "I've got some questions to ask you guys, I work with the SBPD."

"Everything we do here is legal," the man said.

"Well, you know, that's exactly what someone carrying out illegal activities would say."

"Do you have a warrant?"

"I don't need one, I'm not here to make an arrest. To be honest, I don't even have the power to. I'm just here to talk."

The man in the door stared at Shawn again, truly confused. Did that man have a death wish or was he just stupid? He made a move to slam the door again, but just as before, Shawn intervened.

"Okay, I get it, you're a busy man," he said. "I'll make it quick. Just take me to Smithy, Devin, and Paul," Shawn quickly recalled those names from the paper Juliet had given him.

"They ain't seeing anyone today," the man said.

"I want to challenge them to a poker game. I must warn you, though, I'm pretty good."

"Buy in's ten thousand dollars."

"Holy crap, do I look like I'm made of money?"

"No."

"Harsh, man. I'm just here to have a good time." The man didn't budge. "Okay, fine, look can I just go in and cross the bridge of payment when we get there?"

"We're there now."

"You're really not going to budge, are you?"

"No – "

"Damn it, Chuck, close the damn door," a voice from behind the door came as footsteps approached them and the yelling continued. "It's hot as balls out there and you're letting the cold air out." A new figure was now in the doorway behind 'Chuck'. He was much taller, but by no means more intimidating. He had fewer tattoos and somehow, he just didn't look as scary, which meant he must be the brains behind everything.

"Smithy, I presume?" From what Shawn gathered from Juliet, Smithy was the one in charge and did most of the talking. This certainly looked like him.

"Who's asking?"

"I'm Shawn Spencer, I work as a psychic consultant for the SBPD –"

"Oh, let me guess, another idiot here to confirm Edward Lynne's alibi, right?" Shawn said nothing. "That's what I thought, Chuck get me the check book." Chuck glared at Shawn but turned and disappeared out of view. Now, only Smithy's figure filled the door frame. "I showed this to each detective that came by here, and damn it, this will be the last. Next time one of your detectives or fancy schamncy _consultants_ show up, we won't be so accommodating."

"I wouldn't necessarily call the treatment I've been given accommodating," Shawn said. Smithy just glared. Thankfully for him, Chuck reappeared with a book already opened to a page near the end. Smithy grabbed it out of hands, glanced at it, then turned it towards Shawn.

"See for yourself. Receipt and a check signed by _Edward Lynne_. He lost nineteen thousand dollars, which as the other detectives told me is pretty much what the bank will tell you. Satisfied?"

"Not entirely," Shawn admitted. "You see, I have another source which tells me Edward Lynne was somewhere else at that time."

"Well then they're lying."

"There were witnesses."

"We've got them too. Would you like to talk to _all_ of them?"

"See, now _that's_ accommodating. Yes I would very much."

" _That_ was sarcasm."

"Well how do you expect me to believe you if I can't talk to your witnesses?"

Smithy glared. "You are trying my patience."

"Alright, fine, one last question," Shawn said finally giving in. He took the sketch out of his back pocket. "You say Edward Lynne was here playing poker?"

"Yes. Said it about a million times now."

Shawn handed Smith the sketch. " _This man_ was here playing poker?" Shawn asked.

Smith rolled his eyes and snatched the sketch. He stared at the piece of paper for a long time before looking up at Shawn. "Is this some kind of trick? I said Edward Lynne was here, not whoever the hell this is."

"I'm so glad you said that. You see, dear Smithy, the sketch your holding is one of Edward Lynne."

"This isn't him," Smith said stubbornly.

"I'm afraid it is."

"Well, this is not who gave us the check."

"Fascinating," Shawn remarked. "Care to give a little more detail? Bearing in mind your already in enough trouble for lying to the cops."

"Hey, now, I never lied! The guy who came in was a scrawny tall guy who called himself Edward Lynne, he had ID and everything. Is it my fault he lied?"

"It's your fault for believing the fake ID," Shawn remarked. "But thanks anyways, you've been a great help, expect to hear from the detectives at the SBPD any day now."

"Now, wait just a minute – " Smithy tried

"I mean that as a warning. They'll be back here to ask the same questions I just did. It would be easiest and best for you if you just cooperate," Shawn said sincerely. "Now, thank you for your help, I'll be sure to put in a good word for you."

Shawn smiled at Chuck and Smithy, who were both still standing in the doorway shocked. He gave them a wave and walked towards his bike. He kicked it in gear and was off again, back to Maria and Daniel. And yes, Shawn did feel very proud of himself. He just shot a huge hole in Edward's alibi. As far as he was concerned, the case was as good as solved. There were only a few questions left to answer.

* * *

It was two o'clock when Shawn returned to the house. The second he walked in, Maria chastised him for leaving his bike out in the driveway. She insisted that no one should know he was there, and even though Shawn complained he had to agree with her. So, she opened the garage gate and Shawn wheeled his bike in. He then made his way back into the house through the garage door and wandered into the kitchen. To his surprise, Maria was already in there putting food in the microwave. She quickly explained that she had prepared lunch for Daniel over an hour ago and assumed Shawn would be starving.

So Shawn ate the reheated macaroni and cheese and was glad to find he had Maria and little Daniel to keep him company as he ate. Shawn explained briefly that he had talked to Juliet and that they were closer to finding the bad man. He didn't dare say the identity of the man, at least not in front of Daniel, but he knew he'd be telling Maria. After all, he wanted her advice on one of the questions that still lingered in his mind. Once Shawn had finished, he decided that the first thing he needed to check was if the sketch was accurate. So he showed the sketch to Daniel, who frowned and nodded, confirming it was the 'bad man'. Maria sent him off to play, and to make up for upsetting Daniel, Shawn helped her.

"I really wish you'd stop putting added stress on him," Maria said. "He's been through enough."

"I know," Shawn assured her. "But I _need_ to find the killer."

"And then what?" Maria asked. "Once you find the killer and you bring him to justice, _then_ what will you do? Go back to your office to run your private detective business while I have to pick up the pieces and help Daniel through every ordeal _you_ put him through. You may think I'm being controlling or not helping, but I'm just looking out for Daniel. He may hold out strong for you, but he's hurting. And you're not helping."

Shawn stared at her in shock. "Did something happen while I was gone?"

"How the hell – "

"Well, I _am_ lead psychic detective at the Santa Barbara Police Department."

"Please. You're a private eye posing as psychic," Maria roller her eyes and then sighed. "But yeah. Daniel had a nap after you left and he had a bad dream. About the 'bad man'. He only just recovered by the time you got back, and now he's playing as if hasn't got a care in the world."

"Pretending he never saw anything won't make it better," Shawn told her softly. "He's going to need time and… if you want it, or, I mean, if you'll let me I… uh… I'd be happy to come around every now and then…" Maria froze and turned to look at Shawn in shock. "I mean, maybe that sounds weird, I'm only here to solve his parents' murder, but I mean… I get what you're saying, and really that kid is special and he's been through a lot… but I get it if you'd rather I just went far away once this was all over – "

"I'd love for you to come by more," Maria said. "Or, I mean, if I do continue to care for him. Daniel really loves you, I'm sure he'd be thrilled to see you more."

Shawn smiled at her. "Well, first thing's first, we've gotta clear your name," he said moving on swiftly.

"And find the killer," Maria agreed.

"Exactly, which brings me to my next point." Shawn pulled out the sketch he had only moments ago shown to Daniel and handed it to Maria. She in turn gasped at the undeniable face of Edward Lynne.

"That bastard is responsible?" Maria demanded.

"Looks like it," Shawn confirmed.

"But… how? Surely the cops already looked into him, or are they more incompetent than I gave them credit for?"

"They did, but he had an alibi which, up to ten minutes ago, was rock solid."

"You found a hole in it?"

"Yep, and I'm going to blow it wide open with your help."

"My help?"

"Yes. For starters, there was no sign of forced entry, which leads us to believe Sofia let her killer in. Do you know any reason she'd let her abusive ex in her home?"

"She wouldn't have."

"That's not exactly helpful right now, Ria - "

"I'm not saying you're wrong, I'm just saying she wouldn't have let him in. But you know what, she did used to always leave a spare key in a flower pot by the door. She even did that when she was with Lynne."

"So he would have known about it," Shawn concluded. Maria nodded. "Well, that's one question answered."

"That one was easy. Give me another one," Maria insisted. Shawn stared at her with a smile.

"You're enjoying this way too much," he laughed. Maria shrugged her shoulders, so he continued, "Daniel says Edward was wearing a police's uniform that night with the letters GPD on it. I talked with Jules about it and she thinks that it's likely to be Goleta Police Department. Does that mean anything to you? Or do you know if it means anything to Edward?"

"Goleta… I'm pretty sure he grew up there," Maria looked deep in thought. "Hang on, I'm pretty sure I've still got my file on him." She walked out of the kitchen and strode towards her bedroom. Shawn followed, smiling at Daniel as they passed the living room and walked down the hall. In her bedroom, Maria knelt down and reached under her bed.

"Your file on him?" Shawn thought to clarify.

"Yeah," Maria confirmed. She found what she was looking for and pulled it out before slamming it onto her bed. "Back when I was working as a social worker, I made a file on Edward Lynne because I thought he was shady. I wanted a list on everyone close to him that might pose as a problem. Family wasn't really a problem, seeing as most of them didn't even know of Daniel's existence, but I did find a couple of his friends who I was concerned about." She opened the file and flipped through the pages.

"And you kept it? After all this time?"

"I've kept every document relating to Daniel," Maria explained. "And thank God I did." Shawn couldn't argue with that, so instead he looked over Maria's shoulder to see what she was looking for. "Aha! There it is!" she exclaimed. "In high school, Edward had three friends that he'd get up to all sorts of mischief with, and they'd never rat each other out or separate."

"Sounds like a perfect recipe for a partner in crime."

"Exactly," Maria confirmed. "Let's see… Bradley Morgan, after high school stayed in Goleta and works as a manager in tech store. Joshua Levi is an aspiring actor, but hasn't really amounted to anything more than a couple cheesy ads. And finally Larry Cook graduated high school and… oh, he joined the police force."

"He's still based in Goleta?" Shawn asked.

"Last I checked he was still in the academy, but that was years ago. He must have gotten a job by now."

"Definitely worth looking into."

Maria got her laptop from her desk and moved to the living room, Shawn trailing behind her. Daniel sat on the couch next to them, turning on the TV and happily watching cartoons. Shawn and Maria did as much research on Larry Cook as they could. They found that he had in fact graduated from the police academy and joined the force in Goleta. They were trying to see if there was any news related to the cop, but could'nt find anything. They then tried to find some address or phone number, but again came up empty handed. That was to be expected, though, as it would be dangerous to make a cop's address public for all the offenders to see.

It was getting late and Shawn debated calling in a favour from Gus or Jules again to try and find it, but Maria found an alternative. She found a pre-existing home address from her file and called the landlord of the place. Once on the phone, she explained that she was an old friend wanting to pay a surprise visit and asked the landlord very nicely for the next known address. He seemed reluctant at first, but eventually he gave it. Shawn wrote it down as she spoke and when she hung up, they celebrated. Daniel seemed confused, but was just happy that they were happy.

All of that ended, however, when they heard banging on the door. Their blood turned to ice and Maria instinctively turned off the TV. Shawn was the one who quietly made his way to the door and glanced through the peephole. It was none other than Detective Lassiter and Juliet. He stared at Maria in horror, he had no idea what to do.

The banging came again, this time accompanied by Lassiter's voice, "Maria Matthews, this is the SBPD. We know you're in there and we have a warrant for your arrest."

Daniel looked like he was about to cry, so Shawn quickly made his way over and hugged him. When that didn't help, he put a hand over his mouth, hoping to keep him as silent as possible.

Lassiter knocked again, "If you don't open the door we'll kick it down." Maria looked at Shawn.

"I should go," she whispered to him. Shawn reluctantly agreed with her. He quickly grabbed a piece of paper and wrote down a phone number.

"Don't say a word," Shawn said. "Say you understand your rights and then remain silent. Call this number, it's the number to a good lawyer, Adam Hornstock. Tell him that Shawn Spencer gave you his number and that I'm as sure of your innocence as he was of Sandra Panitch. He'll believe it's me. Tell him everything and take his advice. I'll see Larry Cook and hopefully this will all be sorted by tomorrow."

Maria nodded her head. "What about you?"

"There's only two of them. If they start searching the place I'll make a run for it with Daniel."

"Final warning, Matthews!" Lassiter yelled out.

"I'm coming!" Maria yelled out. Shawn and Maria exchanged a look and nodded at each other. Shawn took Daniel and hid in the kitchen. They heard Maria open the door. "Detective Lassiter, what can I do for you?"

"Maria Matthews, you're under arrest for the murder of Richard and Sofia Brookes."

Maria smiled sadly. "What makes you think I did it?" she asked. She wasn't resisting arrest, just genuinely curious.

"We found a phone call you made the morning of Sofia's murder," Juliet piped up. "You called her a terrible mother. You said you were a better mother than she could ever hope to be. You sure sounded pretty mad."

Maria frowned, remembering that conversation well. She regretted it the second she hung up the phone and now she was paying for it. "I'd like to call my lawyer please."

"At the station," Juliet promised.

Lassiter grabbed Maria's arm and turned her around cuffing her hands behind her back. "Maria Matthews, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be held against you…"

The door closed and the detectives took her away.


	11. The Blue Ford

**Hello lovelys!**

 **So last chapter turned out longer than expected and I've had to rearrange things again. Hopefully by the end of this, it'll all be back on track!**

 **Thank you for reading, please review!**

* * *

After Maria was taken away, Shawn was at a loss of what to do. Once the car lights had gone, Shawn had let go of Daniel and the kid wasted no time in starting to cry. He was confused and abandoned, yet again. Shawn didn't know how to comfort the kid, and he was ashamed to admit that he could only stare in shock as Daniel crumpled to the floor and cried more. Shawn felt useless and, for the first time in a long time, he was worried. He may put forward this sense of confidence and self-assuredness, and for the most part he was, but part of him was worried he wouldn't be able to prove Edward was the killer. Part of him was worried that Maria would be sent away or that as an aftermath of her arrest she wouldn't be able to be Daniel's legal guardian. But worst of all, Shawn was worried that the detectives would find something to prove Maria had done it. Prove that he was wrong about her

"Will Ria be coming back?" a little voice asked. Shawn was shook out of his daze and stared down at Daniel. His eyes were red from crying and there were still some tears that were threatening to fall, but for the most part he was putting on a brave face.

"We'll get her back," Shawn promised, though his voice did little so assure the young boy. "I've got a friend who will help her."

"Can I do anything?" Daniel asked.

Shawn looked at the time and noticed it was nearly seven at night. "Not now, no," Shawn told him. "All we can do now for Ria is make sure you get a good dinner and go to bed on time."

"But – "

"No arguing," Shawn said, proud of the strong return of his confidence, no matter how forced it was. "Ria won't be happy to find out I let you stay up late without dinner, now would she?"

"No, but – "

"And then first thing tomorrow, you can come help me to prove her innocence."

"I can help you?" Daniel asked happily.

"Of course, I'll need my psychic protégé to help me out!"

So Shawn prepared a quick and easy dinner. Just as he was about to serve it, he could almost perfectly hear Maria's voice chastising him for not preparing any vegetables. To make up for it, Shawn quickly cut some fruit and passed it off as a desert. Daniel ate, though not as happily as he would have eaten something Maria had made, and was quick to go to bed. His reasoning was that the sooner he went to sleep the sooner he would be able to wake up and help. Shawn tucked him in and Daniel was asleep within two minutes.

Shawn wandered around in the living room, picking up the laptop and written research he and Maria had accumulated before she was taken away. He double checked the details and memorised the way to get to Larry Cook's house. He also made a mental note to check with Richard Brooke's murder scene, wanting to get every piece of evidence he could get against Edward Lynne. Once he was satisfied his research was done, he closed the laptop and went on a search throughout the house to find Maria's car keys. If he was going to take Daniel with him, he'd have to do it in a car. Maria would be furious if he took the kid on his bike again, it just wasn't safe. Hell, the only reason he was bringing Daniel with him in the first place was because he didn't think the house was safe for him to be alone in anymore. It seemed counterproductive to then take him out on his bike.

Once everything was set up, Shawn set an alarm on his phone for eight. He'd prepare a quick breakfast for Daniel in the morning and then they'd set off. Then, once he had enough proof that Edward was their guy, he'd call Juliet and tell her everything she'd need to know to make the arrest. With his plan sorted and his true confidence returning, Shawn went to bed.

* * *

The morning proceeded just as Shawn had anticipated. His alarm went off and he snoozed it three times before finally giving up and getting up out of bed. He made pancakes and cut up fruit for Daniel before setting up the coffee machine. He woke up Daniel and together they sat and had breakfast. He made sure the kid brushed his teeth, got him a hat and sunglasses, and together they took off. Daniel complained at first that they shouldn't take Maria's car without her permission, but Shawn just smiled and lied about already getting it.

They arrived at Richard Brooke's office just past ten thirty in the morning. Shawn made sure Daniel's hat and glasses were on and covering enough of his face. They then walked out of the car, Shawn locking it behind them, and walked to the front desk. They strode to the receptionist's desk and asked to speak to security, saying he was a consultant for the SBPD. They obliged and asked them to wait. Not two minutes later, a tall black man approached them in a security guard's uniform. Shawn stood up and outstretched his hand.

"Good Morning, Gareth," Shawn greeted, reading his name off his name tag. "My name is Shawn Spencer, lead psychic detective of SBPD, this little guy here is Thomas Butch, my psychic protégé, we were hoping to ask you a couple questions about the murder that took place last Wednesday."

"Is that really appropriate to talk about in front of a kid?" Gareth asked, eying Daniel.

"Oh, don't worry, we won't go into the gory details. I've just got some questions about the security on that day."

Gareth looked at Shawn oddly. "The security on that day?" Gareth clarified.

"Yes, that's right," Shawn confirmed. "Were you on duty during the murder?"

"Are you trying to suggest that I had – "

"I'm not trying to suggest anything, I'm just looking into some details, it will only take a moment of your time."

That didn't ease Gareth's worries as much as Shawn would have hoped; his wary look still remained, but nonetheless, he answered his question. "Yeah, I was on duty. I was making my early morning rounds when it happened."

"Did you happen to see any men in blue roaming around when you were making your rounds?"

"Men in blue? You mean cops?" Gareth asked. Shawn nodded in confirmation, which only seemed to annoy the security guard more. "What does it matter if – actually, now that you mention it, yeah. I did see one. Big tall guy. I thought it was weird; they usually let us know if they're gonna come in."

"Was there anything off about him to make you notice?" Shawn asked, his heart racing at this confirmation of his theory.

"No, he was just walking past one of the corridors. I saw him through the window, and later when I checked the security videos I saw him again using the south exit."

"Did the video happen to catch his face?"

"No, he had his hat on. I can give you the tape if you want?"

"That won't be necessary, but if you could prepare it, my colleagues down at the precinct will be stopping by later and may want to take a look. Just one more question, this cop, did you happen to notice or catch a look at the letters on his uniform?"

"I did, actually," Gareth confirmed. "I remember because it caught me off guard. I was expecting it to say SBPD, because, you know, we're in Santa Barbara. But it said GPD."

This caught Daniel's attention and he tugged on Shawn's sleeve, but didn't dare say a word. Gareth noticed the little movement and glanced at him curiously before turning to Shawn. "That mean anything to you?"

"It might," Shawn said. "I'll have to consult with my little protégé here. But thank you for your time, Gareth. You've been a big help."

Shawn shook the man's hand again and left with Daniel closely following him. They got in the car and drove away. Daniel immediately took off his hat and glasses and stared at Shawn, excitedly exclaiming that those were the same letters he noticed when he was with Sofia. Shawn acted for a moment as if he hadn't noticed, giving the kid the satisfaction of helping out. Daniel looked back at the road ahead squirming in his seat, unable to contain his excitement at being right. He asked where they were going next, and Shawn explained that they were going to meet a man named Larry Cook.

* * *

It was a long drive to Larry Cook's address in Goletta that Shawn had memorised. It took just over half an hour, and Daniel was already complaining about needing to use the toilet. Shawn was very close to getting annoyed until he realised that he could use that as the perfect mode of entry. The pseudo-psychic was already hoping that Larry would in fact be home, as it was a Sunday after all. It would be easier to talk to him at home rather than at his precinct.

They arrived at the modest house and Shawn parked by the curb. The house was a semi-detached two story building with enough flowers and womanly touches in the garden to suggest a girlfriend or wife living with him. Shawn could only hope she wasn't home. He put the hat and glasses back on Daniel, more as a safety precaution as it was unlikely for anyone to recognise him there. They both climbed out of the car and walked towards the front door and knocked.

The man who opened the door was tall, thin, and pale with red hair and a square face. "Can I help you?" he asked.

"I sure hope you can," Shawn said with a smile. "My name is Shawn Spencer, this here is Thomas Butch, I'm supposed to be taking him to visit his aunt, but I got myself a bit lost. It's all kind gone down hill from the moment we left and now Thomas here's really got to use the toilet and I need to call his aunt to explain we're going to be a bit late, and wouldn't you know it, _now_ is when my phone dies. I really hate to be a bother, but I don't suppose we could come in and use some of your facilities?"

Larry looked conflicted, but finally opened the door wide for them. "Come on in," he said.

"Thank you so much, you're a life saver," Shawn said, walking in and Daniel trailing behind him. Larry closed the door behind them and gestured down the hall.

"The bathroom's down there on the left, little guy," he explained to Daniel. The kid looked up at Shawn for approval.

"Go on," Shawn said with a reassuring smile. Daniel stared for a moment longer, but quickly his need for the toilet overtook his discomfort of being in a strange place and he ran to the toilet.

"Nice kid," Larry commented.

"Yeah, he's just a little shy."

"My wife's three months along," he said as a side note.

"Hey, congratulations!" Shawn exclaimed.

"Thanks," Larry said with a smile. "The phone's just over here." He lead the way towards his kitchen where the landline was.

"So, Larry, what do you do for a living?" Shawn asked.

"I'm a cop down at the local police force," he answered. He picked up the phone and was about to hand it to Shawn when what the psychic had said finally dawned on him. He looked up at Shaw like a deer caught in headlights. "What did you call me?"

"Larry," Shawn said again. "Larry Cook."

"How do you know my name? I never told you my name."

"No, you didn't, but I guess I forgot to tell you. I'm a psychic detective for the SBPD. So I guess that means we may work together in the future. Well, maybe we will… sort of depends on how you answer the rest of my questions."

"What?"

"See, I may have told a little lie before. My name really is Shawn Spencer, but that little guy who's using your bathroom's real name is Daniel Brookes. Son of Sofia Swanson and Edward Lynne." At the mention of the second name, Shawn could practically see Larry's heart drop in panic. "Why don't you ask me where the name Brookes came from."

Larry swallowed hard, but finally asked, "Where did the name Brookes come from?"

"I'm glad you asked!" Shawn exclaimed excitedly. "After Edward Lynne was found guilty for emotionally, verbally, and _physically_ abusing Daniel and his mother, he was sent to jail. Sofia went on to marry a man named Richard Brookes, who later legally adopted him. Now, Larry, why don't you do me a favour and ask me what happened to his parents."

"I'm not sure I want to – "

"Ask me," Shawn ordered aggressively.

Larry's lip trembled. "I don't want to – "

"Ask!"

The cop flinched but at long last asked in a small, almost inaudible voice, "What happened to his parents?"

"They're dead, Larry," Shawn said harshly. "Murdered. And we like Edward Lynne as our prime suspect, but oddly enough he has an alibi. An alibi which, by the way, crumbles once I show the witnesses a picture of him. Coincidentally, I've got another witness saying they saw him murdering Sofia while wearing a cops uniform from Goleta Police Department and when I check with the other crime scene, low and behold, a man was seen wearing the exact same uniform. Now Larry, as a police officer for the very same department _and_ as a close high school friend of Edward Lynne, do you want to tell me how that could happen?"

"I… uh…"

"And may I remind you how beneficial your cooperation would be for your pregnant wife?"

Larry's eyes widened further, surprising Shawn as he didn't think that was physically possible.

"Fine," Larry surrendered at last. "Oh, God, fine, fine! You win… I may have gotten him a spare uniform from work."

"Why?" Shawn demanded.

"He helped me out of… debt…"

"Debt? From what? Police academy isn't that expensive, and I certainly don't think your racking up any massive bills in this place. No offence, it is a lovely house, just not one that I suspect would bankrupt a working man like you."

"No, I… I've got a problem, okay?"

"A problem? What problem?" realisation dawned on Shawn. "Oh… a gambling problem." Larry looked away shamefully. "That explains the dent in Edward's bank account. You must be a terrible poker player."

"Eddie gave me nine grand to cover my debt. Then he told me he had already bought himself a spot in a poker game last Sunday night. He said if I wanted it, it was mine, after all he had already payed for the buy in and they don't exactly give refunds. All I'd have to do was pretend to be him, he even recommended getting a fake ID with his name on it," Larry explained.

"And you spent the nine grand he gave you?" Shawn asked. Larry nodded his head. "Soon, a couple detectives are going to come around. You have to tell them everything you told me. You'll have to find that fake ID you used and give it to them."

Larry was shaking his head before Shawn even finished, "I can't do that. I could lose my job!"

"Think about your pregnant wife – "

"I _am_ thinking about her! How will I be able to support her without a job? How could I bring up my child without a steady income?"

"People have died, Larry!" Shawn yelled. "If you don't come forward and tell them everything they need to know, we'll take a photo of you to Smithy and Chuck and have them confirm that you were there. I'm telling you this as a favour. Cooperate with the detectives and they'll go easy on you. You'll get a suspension, that's for sure, but you won't lose your job. If you make it difficult for them to get their answers you'll face jail time, and then who will care for your wife and kid?"

"Oh God, oh God," Larry ran a hand through his hair and started to pace the floor. Shawn rolled his eyes and finally noticed a small figure in the hallway. He looked terrified, and Shawn immediately felt guilty. The kid had never seen him act this way, act so angrily, and truth be told he couldn't even remember the last time he had acted like that. He took in a deep breath and tried to calm down.

"Come here, Daniel," Shawn said softly. "It's okay, there's nothing to be afraid about."

Larry stopped his pacing and turned towards the hallway, seemingly having forgotten that there was another visitor in his house. Daniel tentatively made his way towards the psychic. Once he was sure he couldn't see any trace of anger or threat in Shawn's face, he made a run for it. Shawn knelt down and let the kid collide into his chest. He wrapped his arms around the boy and picked him up off the floor. Larry watched the interaction from where he was standing a couple feet away.

"His parents are gone now," Shawn said softly, attempting his last line of reasoning. "Do right by your wife, by your kid, and by Daniel… tell the truth and help us bring justice." He held Larry's eye for a moment longer and then let himself out.

Shawn walked towards the car outside. He opened the passenger door and sat Daniel down inside. He closed the door and made his way into the driver seat. They pulled off the curb and drove in silence. Daniel still looked a little scared, but more importantly, he looked sad. Shawn pursed his lips and thought about what he could do to help. The answer finally dawned on him.

"Hey, I just realised," Shawn said out loud. "It's Sunday. Didn't Richard usually take you to the pier for an ice cream on Sundays?" Daniel's eyes lit up and Shawn laughed. That settled it then.

* * *

Shawn parked the car in one of the public car parks. He was astounded when he saw the fee they charged for parking and resented the fact that he couldn't park at the Psych office for fear of Lassiter or Juliet spotting the car. He cursed having to be stealthy and really hoped with all his heart that this case really would be over soon. He wanted to go back to normal life, he was tired of hiding from the people he cared about and he missed Gus.

Shawn shook the sad thoughts out of his head and focused back on Daniel. He bought him a large ice cream and they walked along the pier. They talked for a little while, Shawn assessing the situation to see if Daniel would be alright. The more they talked the more assured he felt and soon enough, they were laughing together. Shawn finally excused himself and told Daniel that he had to make a call. He warned him not to wander off, and Daniel promised he wouldn't. So Shawn pulled out his phone and, true to his word, Daniel stayed by his side staring out at the sea.

' _Hello?'_ Juliet's voice answered the phone after two rings.

"Jules, hi, it's Shawn."

' _I gathered,'_ Juliet said.

"I've got some updates for you… is it okay to talk?"

' _Yes.'_

"Wow, you're talkative today. Oh… Carlton's within hearing distance, isn't he?"

' _That's correct.'_

"Thanks," Shawn said genuinely. "I appreciate you keeping this under wraps, let alone talking to me at all. I get that your pissed, but hopefully the information I can give you now will make up for it."

' _Don't mention it.'_

"Right, okay… Edward Lynne did it," Shawn said quickly. "Wait, don't say anything, I know you're about to so just hear me out okay?"

So Shawn explained everything vaguely. He wanted to give them enough detail to know what to do next, but not so much detail that they didn't have to any digging themselves. He wanted them to arrive at the same conclusions he had by their own method. So he gave Juliet hints, telling her to go back to Smithy with a photo of Edward. He told her to look through Edward's high school friends to find anyone working for Goleta PD. He told her to go to both crime scenes and ask if they had seen a man in a cop's uniform lurking around.

Juliet wrote all of the information down, knowing what Shawn was doing but half wishing he would just outright tell her. But she understood why he was doing this, especially now. If this went to court they needed to have obtained all their evidence by themselves _legally_. So she would take his hints any day.

"And so," Shawn continued. "I'm sure once you've finished all your digging you'll see that Ria is completely innocent."

' _That was a lot of information, how did you get it all done in – wait a minute,'_ Juliet stopped in her tracks. _'Ria? Do you mean_ Ma _ria?!'_

Shawn hesitated. "Yes?" he answered as a question.

' _I didn't know you were so close – hang on, she called for a lawyer, who just happens to be a close friend of yours… Damn it, Shawn! Did you tell her to call him?!'_

"I may have done… but only because she's innocent!"

' _How did you even know we arrested her?!'_

' _O'Hara, is that Spencer?'_ Shawn could just make out Lassiter's voice on the other end and he cursed at himself.

' _Oh my God, were you there?!'_ Juliet asked. _'When we arrested her, were you there?'_

"Yes, I was," Shawn admitted.

There was a pause on the other end. Shawn could picture Juliet steadying her breathing and counting backwards from ten. From the amount of yelling Lassiter was doing on the other end, Shawn guessed he could do with a similar treatment, though the psychic would never say such things. Not if he wanted to live.

' _Thank you,'_ Juliet said, surprising Shawn. _'For not interfering. For letting us carry out our job even if it you didn't agree.'_

Shawn was still taken aback. "You don't need to thank me, Jules," he said at last. "It's your job and, no matter how much Lassie says otherwise, I really don't _plan_ to disrupt it or make it harder."

' _I know,'_ Juliet said. She audibly sighed and carried on, _'I'll talk to Carlton, but he really won't like following up on a lead that you've provided.'_

"He may not like it, but he will," Shawn assured her. "By the end of the day, this will all be sorted."

' _I hope you're right.'_

"Hey Jules, wait," Shawn said last second before she could hang up. "Did you keep your promise?"

' _What promise?'_

"How much sleep did you get?"

There was a pause on the other end. _'Six hours and seven minutes.'_

Shawn smiled, "Good," he said. "Call me when you arrest Edward."

Juliet rolled her eyes and hung up. Upon hearing the dial tone, Shawn laughed. He looked to his left and saw Daniel standing there, still looking out at the sea, more than half of his ice cream gone.

"C'mon, kiddo," Shawn said, offering his hand. "Let's get you back to Ria's place."

"Is Ria gonna be there?" Daniel asked, happily taking his hand and picking up his pace to keep up with Shawn's fast walk.

"No, she'll be joining us later."

The two of them walked briskly to the car, talking about the sea. Daniel suddenly had many questions to ask the psychic. He asked if he'd been surfing before, if he'd ever been on a boat, if he'd ever left the state, if he'd ever left the _country_ , and so on. Shawn was smiling along and answering all his questions, happy to provide whatever distraction the kid wanted from his current situation. As they were approaching the car, however, Daniel suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. His hand slipped out of Shawn's, causing the psychic to turn around in shock. Daniel was staring off in the distance with a horrified look on his face.

"Daniel? What's wrong?"

"The Bad Man," Daniel explained. "He's here."

Shawn's heart stopped and he immediately whipped around, searching the crowds for Edward Lynne's face. He couldn't spot it immediately, and yes, granted, maybe Daniel had just been paranoid, but he wasn't willing to take that risk. He took Daniel's ice cream out of his hand and picked Daniel up with his other hand. He strode quickly towards the car and as he passed by a trash can, threw the rest of the ice cream away. He ran to the car and strapped Daniel into the passenger seat. He ran to the driver's side and as soon as his key was in ignition, he slammed on the gas peddle. He didn't even bother to put his own seat belt on, opting to ignore the beeping of the car and the looks the people on the side walk gave him as the car screeched away.

They drove quickly through the streets, Shawn not willing to relax just yet. He took more turns than necessary and changed lanes more often than his queasy stomach would have preferred. It was only after five minutes of this that he realised he was being followed. A dark blue Ford was tailing him, making every turn he made. Shawn let him get close at one point, just to see if he could make out the driver, but he could not. All he could see was the blue Ford.

Shawn sped up the car, speeding through stop signs and driving through pedestrian crossings. People yelled at him and he got given the finger on more than one occasion, but still that blue Ford followed. He approached a traffic light just as it turned yellow and sped up the car, flying past the intersection. The light turned red, but still the blue Ford followed. Many cars honked in anger, but that didn't matter. Finally, an opportunity approached for Shawn to get away. They were approaching the train tracks and the barriers were down. Shawn could see the train in the distance at the stop. If he was very quick – and very lucky – he could cross the barriers just before the train arrived. The blue Ford would have to stop, at least if it wanted to live. So Shawn pushed the accelerator as far down as it would go. He approached the track as the train was moving past its stop. For a second, he didn't know if he'd make it, but he'd gone too far now. Trying to stop would just cause more trouble. So he went for it.

The train blew its horn. Daniel cried. Shawn's car made it through to the other side. The blue Ford did not.

Shawn kept driving, not once slowing down until he was sure they were safe. They arrived at Maria's house and he parked in the driveway, even though he knew Maria hated that. He got out of his seat, walked to the passenger side and picked Daniel – who was still crying – up out of his seat and they went inside.


	12. Safe

**Hello lovelys!**

 **I just wanted to put a quick warning/disclaimer. This is a fictional story about a fictional show. So bearing that in mind, note that any driving that occurs will always have the outcome I have planned. Please don't be like I've written Shawn to be, don't ride a motorcycle with an 8 year old, you shouldn't even have them in the front seat of a car. Don't speed, don't ignore traffic lights, don't go through train tracks when the barriers are down, and ALWAYS wear your seatbelt.**

 **Now that that's said and done, on with the fic!**

 **Thank you for reading, please review!**

* * *

It took almost an hour to calm Daniel down. Shawn apologised what must have been a hundred times and simply held the young boy, but that wouldn't work. He still cried and wailed loudly. He was obviously terrified and Shawn was overwhelmed with guilt knowing that he had caused that. He didn't want to scare the kid, that was never his intention, he just wanted to keep him away from whoever was following them. So he would wait as long as it took to calm him down.

When the tears finally stopped falling, Daniel still didn't calm down. He still shook and he still held on tightly to Shawn, but he didn't care. He held the boy in his arms and rubbed his back until he fell asleep. Shawn picked him up and laid him on the couch and moved to the kitchen. As Daniel slept, Shawn prepared some food for lunch, after all they had skipped that meal.

Daniel woke up twenty minutes later and joined Shawn in the kitchen. Shawn offered a smile and served two plates of food, placing them both at the table. The two of them sat and ate their late lunch, exchanging only a few words. When they finished, Shawn cleared the table and washed the dishes, but Daniel still sat. So when the psychic had finished cleaning, he joined the kid at athe table again.

"The Bad Man was in the car, wasn't he?" Daniel asked.

"I don't know for sure, but it's what I was afraid of," Shawn said honestly.

"Is he going to hurt me like he hurt mommy?"

"Over my dead body." Daniel looked up in horror. Shawn closed his eyes and mentally cursed at himself. "Poor word choice," he admitted. "I won't let him hurt you."

"But what if he hurts _you_?" Daniel's lip started to tremble. "Or what if you leave like Ria?"

"Hey, hey, Daniel, it's alright," Shawn cooed. He got out of his seat and moved towards Daniel's chair. He kneeled in front of the kid and looked him in the eye. "I want you to listen carefully, okay? Ria didn't leave by choice. She would have preferred to stay with you, always and forever, and she's fighting very hard to be given that opportunity, okay?" Daniel sniffled and tried hard to keep the tears at bay, but he managed to nod his head. "Good. Secondly, I've got the police helping me, okay? They know as much as I do and they're working hard to catch the bad man before he can get close to us, okay? Meanwhile I will do everything I can to keep you safe. I won't be hurt and I won't leave. Got it?"

"You promise?"Daniel held out his pinkie.

"Of course," Shawn said without missing a beat and wrapping his pinkie around the kid's. Daniel moved forward out of his chair and jumped onto the psychic, wrapping his arms around his neck. Shawn returned the hug instantly, and they stayed like that for a couple minutes. Daniel was the one to break the hug. He pulled apart and looked at Shwn with a small smile forming.

"Can we watch _Star Wars_?" he asked.

"You wanna watch _Star Wars_?" Shawn asked excitedly. "I thought you'd never ask! Why don't you go pick up the DVD? Do you know where it is?"

"Yeah, Ria keeps it in her room. She tries to hide it from me so I don't watch it too many times. She doesn't know I know where it is," Daniel smiled and ran off to get it. Shawn laughed as he watched the kid take off, glad that for the most part the sadness was over

Daniel returned, holding the DVD in his hand. He gave it to Shawn and he set up the TV. The main screen for the movie appeared and Shawn was about to push play, but Daniel had another thought in mind.

"When's Ria coming back?" he asked. "Can we go get her something? She likes flowers, the yellow kinds."

"I'm not sure when she'll get back," Shawn admitted. "and we can get some flowers when we go to pick her up, but for now we'll have to stay at home."

"Why?"

"Because it's not safe to go out yet."

"When will it be safe?"

"When I get a phone call. Then we'll have to go to the police station and you'll have to talk to some very nice detectives."

Daniel froze. "I don't want to," he said.

Shawn looked him over. He was still scared of the cops then. "They're my friends," Shawn told him gently. "They're not going to hurt you, they're not even going to raise their voice at you. You've done nothing wrong, but they will want to talk to you."

"But I don't want to talk to them."

"You'll have to."

"But Shawn – "

"It's the easiest way. Look, Daniel, don't you trust me? These guys are my friends. In fact, I promise you will talk to my very good friend Juliet O'Hara. She's a lovely lady who's been helping me out these past couple days." Shawn actively avoided mentioning the fact that she was the one who arrested Ria yesterday. That would just cause mistrust. "She's very kind and I like her a lot, you can trust her. But, if you're still scared, I promise either me or Ria will be by your side the whole time. Is that fair?"

Daniel looked as if he were debating his options for a while. "And then it'll be over? Then Ria and I can go home?"

"I can't promise anything," Shawn admitted. "But that's the idea."

"Okay," Daniel agreed in a quiet voice. "Only if you or Ria are there with me."

"Sounds like a deal," Shawn assured him. "Now, why don't we watch some _Star Wars_?"

So Shawn pushed play, and they watched the movie together. Daniel enjoyd every second of it, laughing loudly in all the right places and admiring the battle and space scenes. More than once, Daniel demanded he paused the movie while he ran off to the bathroom. He'd return running into the room and jump onto the couch, only then allowing the movie to played again. By the time they finished the movie, it was already dark out and all of the lights in the house were still off. Shawn looked at the time and saw it was only twenty minutes past five. He sighed and rolled his eyes, the winter times were really messing with his head. It felt much later.

"Can we watch the next one?" Daniel asked excitedly jumping up and down on the couch.

"The _next_ one?" Shawn asked incredulously. "The credits are still rolling!"

"So, you can just skip it."

"Those poor people who worked so hard on the movie. You want to skip the part where they get recognition?"

Daniel cocked his head to the side. "Huh?"

"A lot of people's hard work go into movies like this. Their names at the end are the only recognition they get, and you're just going to skip through it?" Shawn, of course, was just teasing Daniel. He never meant for the kid to actually feel bad.

"Oh… I'm sorry, we'll watch it." and he sat right back down onto the couch, fully intent to watch all if it.

Shawn chuckled to himself. "You're so silly," he said. "We don't have to watch the credits."

"We don't?" Daniel asked excitedly. He jumped off the couch. "I'll go get the next movie then!" and he ran past Shawn towards Maria's bedroom.

"Hey, wait!" Shawn took off running after him, letting the sounds of Daniel's laughter ring out. Shawn caught up to the kid and grabbed him with both hands, picking him up off the ground. "Gotcha!"

Their fun was immediately cut short when they heard a window break. Daniel stopped laughing and Shawn froze in his spot, the kid still held in his arms. They could do nothing but stand still and be quiet. The _Star Wars_ credits music was playing in the living room, but they could still make out the sounds of the front door being opened. The smallest of whimpers escaped Daniel's mouth, and so he made a move to cover his mouth. Shawn held Daniel so the kids back was against his chest. One arm wrapped around Daniel's torso holding him in place, while the other covered his mouth. They listened intently to what was happening.

The intruder had entered the small house, his shoes making loud noises with every slow step he took. He paused for a moment, and Shawn could basically imagine him looking into the living room to see if there was someone there watching TV. Once the intruder was sure there was no figure in the living room, he began to walk again. Shawn breathed the smallest sigh of relief when he realised the footsteps were going further away from him. A light turned on and Shawn was thankful for the wall blocking him and Daniel from the intruder's view. The light was close by, so Shawn assumed the intruder was going to the garage. He heard the door open, and for a moment the footsteps were gone. They heard clattering around for a couple seconds, then the footsteps returned.

Another light was flipped on. The one above Shawn's head didn't turn on, but the lights behind the wall shone brighter. The living room lights were turned on. The footsteps moved down the house towards the living room. Shawn snuck closer to the front door, still holding Daniel and still making sure he was obscured by the wall. Another light flipped on, the kitchen light that time. Shawn dared to peak out from behind the wall and noticed a large man in the living room moving towards kitchen. Shawn looked straight ahead towards the garage and noticed the intruder had left the door open. He knew that after searching the kitchen, the intruder would make his way towards the bedrooms. That meant he'd go towards the front door and meet Shawn in the hallway. So, Shawn really only had one choice in order to stay safe.

When the intruder's figure was fully hidden within the kitchen, Shawn moved quickly and quietly towards the garage. He dove into the room and hid so that he was out of view. Just as they settled, Shawn could hear the footsteps move out of the kitchen and move closer towards them. The footsteps started crunching on glass, and Shawn could only assume he was close to the front door. The intruder paused and flipped another light switch. The hallway outside the bedrooms must have turned on, and he could hear the footsteps move away from him. He was almost done searching the whole house, would he make second rounds? Shawn didn't have the time to take a chance.

Shawn looked around the garage, desperately trying to come up with a plan. His eyes quickly landed on his bike. He debated for a second, but quickly decided he had no choice. He hadn't brought Maria's car in the garage, plus a movie was playing, so the intruder knew someone was home. They'd have to make a quick break for it. Shawn moved towards his bike and placed Daniel sitting on the back of it.

"Don't make a sound," Shawn whispered to him. "Don't move, just sit here and wait for me to come back." Daniel managed a small nod, and Shawn moved back towards the garage door.

He peaked his head out of the door, the intruder was nowhere to be seen. He could make out that the light in the hallway and the guest room was on, but that was it. He had to assume that that was where the intruder was. Shawn's heart pounded quickly and strongly, he was terrified, but he needed to get into the living room. His bike keys and helmets were in there. So, he carefully snuck out of the garage. He did as his father had taught him, walking on the ball of his feet. He had already been in the house long enough to know which floorboards creaked and he made every effort to avoid them.

Soon enough, he was in the living room. He found his keys easily enough on the coffee table and one of his helmets on the bookshelf. He picked up both of them and quickly looked around the rest of the room. For the life of him, he couldn't see where the other helmet was. Then it dawned on him, he was wearing it the day before. When he walked in, he left it in his room. Shawn didn't have the time nor the ability to get it. He pursed his lips together, figuring he'd have to drive recklessly again. He'd have to, he needed to save Daniel. So Shawn started to make his way towards the garage again.

The footprints sounded off again. Shawn froze in place. The footprints made their way out of the guest room, turned left, and went further down the hallway. He was making his way toward Maria's room. Shawn was running out of time.

He moved quickly to the garage, careful again to avoid every creaky board and making as little sound as possible. He was at the door and noticed the key sticking out of it. He pulled it out, walked into the garage, slowly and quietly closing the door behind him. He quietly place the key inside and locked the door. He move towards Daniel, who hadn't moved an inch. He was pale as a ghost, his eyes wide with horror and his jaw hanging loose. Shawn placed his one helmet on the kid and tightened it as far as it would go. He put his bike key into ignition, but didn't turn it. He walked back towards the door, where the switch for the garage gate was. He took in a deep breath and pushed the button.

The garage gate moved into gear loudly and slowly slid up the wall. Shawn could barely hear the intruder running through the house, making his way to the garage. The psychic ignored him and ran instead to his bike. He turned his key and his bike roared to life. The door to the garage started shaking as the intruder was now pounding on the door, trying to break it open. Shawn demanded for Daniel to hold on to him tightly, and the kid did as told. Most of his breath was squeezed out of him by the kid, but he chose to ignore it. He had to wait for the garage gate to open enough for him to make his escape.

The door to the garage burst open. Edward Lynne stood in the frame. Shawn accelerated the bike at all force. The tires burnt rubber on the garage floor but finally lurched forward, Shawn only just reacted in time to duck under the gate as it opened. Edward took off after them, sprinting in vain hope to catch up. As the bike pulled away from the house, Shawn could only just make out the dark blue Ford parked in the driveway, blocking Maria's car's exit. Edward seemed to have remembered it too as he gave up sprinting and turned back to his car.

That was the last look Shawn dared to give himself. He drove at a high speed through the streets. He didn't know if he was being followed, but that didn't stop him driving. The wind tore through his very few layers and burned his eyes, but he ignored the cold and forced his eyes to stay open. He didn't have time to worry about all that. He to needed get away.

* * *

Shawn had been driving his bike for what must have been twenty minutes. It was dark out and though the street lights were on, he couldn't see very well behind him. He had no idea how far away Edward Lynne was, but he did know he couldn't just keep driving for the rest of the night. He needed a safe place, and that was when he remembered the promise he made Juliet. Daniel was now in danger, that much was certain, and the safest place for him would be with the police. So Shawn pulled over on the side of the road. They were only ten minutes away from the Psych office. Remembering his additional promise to Daniel, Shawn decided to call Juliet to have her meet him there.

Shawn pulled out his phone, happy to have always kept it in his back pocket, and dialled the detectives number. Juliet picked up the phone after a single ring.

' _This better be important, we are very busy right now,'_ was her greeting.

"Jules, I need you to meet me at the Psych office now," the urgency was clear in his voice and Shawn wasn't at all ashamed of it. In fact, he was thankful. Maybe that would get her to take him seriously immediately.

' _Shawn… what happened?'_ she asked

"I'm being followed, it's getting dangerous."

' _Okay… does it have to be now? Can't you meet at the station, you'll be safe there? We're just on the way back from Larry Cook's house, Edward Lynne's alibi has shattered completely. We're just on our way to Richard Brooke's office, like you told us – "_

"Jules, there's no time. The station is too far away, I need you to meet me now."

' _Even if we put the sirens on it'll take us time –'_

"Shawn, the Bad Man…" Daniel interrupted. Shawn turned around and looked where Daniel was pointing. Sure enough, a dark blue Ford was very quickly making their way towards them.

' _Shawn? Was that Daniel?!'_ Now Juliet's voice sounded urgent.

"Remember my promise? About Daniel being in danger?" Shawn asked her. "Psych office, now Jules!" Shawn hung up and shoved his phone into his back pocket, and yet again they took off.

* * *

They arrived at the Psych office ten minutes later. Shawn jumped off his bike and picked Daniel up out of his seat. He ran towards the front door, not bothering to turn off his bike's ignition and not caring when he heard it fall over. He unlocked the door, pushed it open with his free hand, and moved inside. He placed Daniel on the floor and undid his helmet.

"Hide in the closet," Shawn ordered. "Don't come out until I say it's safe." Daniel nodded and ran off. Shawn turned towards the front door again and locked it. He then ran to the back door and double checked that it was locked too. He then quickly ran to the windows and opened the blinds, planning for the worst. Should Edward arrive and try to attack Shawn, he wanted pretty much anybody to act as a witness. The next step was to call Juliet using the office phone. That way, should he suddenly go missing, they knew where he last was. So Shawn snatched the phone on his desk and dialed Juliet's number.

The front door started shaking. Shawn looked up at the door, his heart was racing. He needed Juliet to pick up. Shawn heard the tone on the other end of the phone. Juliet's phone was in use, he could only leave a message. The front door burst open and Shawn dropped the phone in shock. Edward Lynne was there. Shawn had nowhere to run.

Edward stared at the psychic, almost surprised that he wasn't trying to run away. He smirked and walked threateningly towards Shawn. His eyes had lit up just a little; he was actually enjoying this. He enjoyed playing the role of the predator, he enjoyed watching the fear in his prey's eyes. He enjoyed hurting people, and that truly terrified Shawn. He could only stand frozen in fear trying to stop his heart from coming up his throat

"Where is he?" Edward demanded.

The aggressive question reminded Shawn about the young kid. Daniel was in the closet right behind him. No matter what happened in this office, Shawn knew he wouldn't allow Daniel to be a witness to it. Not again. The psychic forced his legs to move and he walked away from the closet, closer towards the kitchen of the office. Once he was sure he was out of view from the closet, Shawn turned to face Edward and put on a falsely confident smile.

"Where's who?" Shawn asked, and he was genuinely impressed at how steady his voice sounded.

Edward's smile dropped and his eyes turned dark. In one swift moment, his arm flew through the air and his very big fist made contact with Shawn's nose. The force of the blow knocked Shawn back and he grabbed hold of the counter behind him to steady himself with one hand. He held his nose with his other hand. He let go of it and looked down at his hand which was now covered in blood.

"Where's my son?!" Edward demanded.

"I don't know who you're talking about," Shawn said stubbornly.

Edward swung his arm again, the left one this time. Shawn was hit in the eye and he stumbled backwards again. Edward didn't stop there, he shoved the psychic backwards where his head smacked against the wall. His attacker place one hand on Shawn's chest, holding him in place. He pressed his forearm of his free arm against Shawn's throat, immediately cutting off his air. Shawn started chocking, gasping for any air. His hands flew to the constricting arm and scratched and pulled at it in vain. Edward leaned in close, seemingly amused at the psychic's futile efforts

"Where is Daniel?" Edward hissed at him.

"He's gone," Shawn rasped out, struggling to get a breath in. "I told him to run," he inhaled what little breath he could, "and he did." Edward pushed harder against his throat and Shawn struggled more. His vision slowly started to blur, he could see black spots forming. He pulled at the arm harder, but he was just so weak. His eyes were starting to close when suddenly Edward let go. Shawn inhaled deeply and steadied himself by placing a hand on the counter which was still by his side. He started coughing violently and his throat felt like it was on fire, but he was very aware that he was still extremely vulnerable. He knew he was at Edward's mercy, and that was not a good thing.

"You really don't know where he is," Edward said.

"No," Shawn croaked.

Edward let out a single laugh in amusement. He grabbed the collar of Shawn's shirt with one hand and pulled him close. He leaned in close and whispered in the psychic's ear, "Then you're useless to me."

Shawn was vaguely aware that Edward was reaching behind his back and grabbed hold of something. Every voice of reason told Shawn that he needed to get away, he needed to do something and do it quickly. But he was so tired and his mind was working so slowly. Edward's free hand flew forward and suddenly, a sharp pain erupted in Shawn's neck. He gasped in shock at the pain, but could do nothing else.

Edward still had a hold on Shawn but he leaned back so as to make eye contact. He had a sickening smile on his face and seemed immensely proud of himself. Shawn finally dared to shift his gaze to his left. He couldn't see the knife, but he could just make out Edward's hand and could leave the rest up to logical deduction. He had been stabbed in the neck, just like Daniel's parents. Shawn looked back up at his attacker. He still had a smile on his face, he was enjoying the psychic's suffering. He suddenly pulled the knife out and let go of his victim before moving to the side. Shawn tried to stay on his feet, holding himself on the counter in his last act of defiance. But immediately the room started to spin, his legs became weak, and all he wanted to do was collapse. So he did.

Shawn lay on the floor bleeding out fast. If he didn't get help soon, he was sure to die. Edward stepped over him and made his way to the front door. Shawn could do nothing but watch as the man walked out and shut the door behind him.

It's funny how when a man is a at the brink of death, all the little things that wouldn't usually matter seem to be the most important things in the world. For example, as Shawn lay there on his floor, pain filling every fibre of his being and blood pouring out onto the office floor, all he could think about was how mad Gus would be to come back and find an unlocked door and a bloodstained floor. He would grumble on and on about never getting their deposit back and there would be no one there to reason with him that everything was going to be fine. Of course, Gus already wasn't too happy with Shawn, so the mess he left behind probably would just make matters worse and perhaps it would be for the best if Shawn wasn't there to reason with him. And actually, the more Shawn thought about it, the more he was dawned with a horrible realisation. He was leaving things in a horrible place with everyone he cared about. His last conversation with his father was an argument, his last conversation with Jules had ended abruptly and with her annoyed at him, and of course Lassiter probably hated him now more than ever. Perhaps it was only right things ended this way, then. Perhaps it would be best if he couldn't make any more stupid decisions.

Shawn lay there on the floor, too weak to even make a sound. All he could do was hope that someone would come soon, though he knew that all odds pointed to him dying. Shawn suddenly found he was okay with this. Though he may not have left things on the highest note with the people he loved, one thing was certain. Edward had left. Daniel was safe.

 _Edward had left. Daniel was safe._


	13. Hospital

**Hello lovelys!**

 **Almost done now, just an epilogue left. I don't really have much to say except that these past few chapters have been so much longer than I anticipated, I hope that's been fine.**

 **Sorry it's late! Had an extremely busy couple days. Please review, hope you enjoy!**

* * *

It was the constant beeping that eventually woke him up. He kept his eyes closed though, refusing to lose anymore sleep than he was already at risk of losing. He was just so exhausted, he couldn't remember why, but he was and all he wanted was for the God damned beeping to stop. And yet, it continued. For a moment, he debated just opening his eyes and dealing with it, but he knew once he did that he'd never get back to sleep. He was really starting to get frustrated, but he tried to just go back to sleep. The beeping never stopped, instead it sped up. And then, to add insult to injury, new sounds started to interfere with his sleep. Voices. People were there and they were, rather inconsiderately, he thought, talking while he was trying to sleep. He got even more annoyed when it dawned on him that there were all these people there and not _one_ of them made a move to stop that incessant beeping. He was tempted to yell at them, tell them to shut up and stop that beeping while they were at it. All the noises combined were driving him insane and the beeping was only going faster and faster, beeping more and more, though the volume nor the tone ever changed. Finally, a new sound was heard. He was convinced it was the voice of an angel.

"Shawn," it said. "Shawn, can you hear me?"

Yes, he did, but he didn't want to say anything for fear that would promote the other voices around the angel to make more noise. But, just hearing that voice was enough to start to calm him down. Even the beeping started to slow.

"Hey, Shawn, that's it," it encouraged. "Can you open your eyes?"

He wasn't sure if he could. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to find out. But the angel asked so kindly, so he figured he might as well try. Slowly, he managed to pry open both eyes. He looked around him as best as he could, but his vision was still blurry. He could make out that there were four different faces in front of him; two white men stood at the foot of his bed, a black man to his right, and a white woman to his left. He blinked several times and eventually, some of the woman's features could be made out. She had long blonde hair and the most beautiful blue eyes he'd ever seen. She had a smile on her face and she looked genuinely happy to see him wake up. and then he remembered.

"Jules?" Shawn managed to croak out. His own voice surprised him and he tried to clear it, but that only caused him more pain.

"Take it easy, Shawn," Juliet said. "You've been through a lot."

Shawn scanned the faces of the other people around his bed. His dad stood at the foot of his bed with Lassiter, while Gus was sitting on a chair to his right. His eyes went back to Henry.

"Dad?" he rasped out.

"Morning, sleeping beauty," Henry said. He tried to maintain his stoic expression as best as he could, but really, he was very glad to see his son wake up. "How's your throat?" Shawn opened his mouth to answer, but Henry raised his hand. "Don't answer, the doctor recommended as much rest as possible for your voice. It'll be a while yet 'til it returns to normal."

"What happened?" Shawn asked. The question killed his throat and Henry rolled his eyes at him for ignoring his suggestion.

"You don't remember?" Juliet asked.

"Bits and pieces," Shawn admitted.

"Do you remember the case we were working?" she asked. Shawn thought for a second then nodded. "You remember Edward Lynne?" again, Shawn nodded. "He was following you. You asked me to meet you at the Psych office. We were never going to get there on time, so we called in for some squad cars to meet us there. Buzz and Dobson were on duty and so they got there first. They saw Edward Lynne leaving your office and he had blood on his jeans, so Dobson arrested him and Buzz was the one who found you. You were bleeding out. The paramedics said if it weren't for Buzz you might not have made it."

"Remind me to send a gift bask – " Shawn tried to say a witty comment, but his voice went and he winced at the pain it caused him.

"Do yourself a favour, kid," Henry started. "Stop talking."

Lassiter scoffed, "when pigs fly," he quipped.

"Carlton," Juliet scolded.

"What happened with Ed – ?" it was all he could manage, but it was enough.

"Arrested," Juliet said. "No matter what, he will face charges against your attempted murder. We have it all on tape. You called my while I was on the phone to Dobson and left a voice message. But you were right about everything, of course. We'll get him on Richard and Sofia's murder as well. No matter how much his lawyers argues he's innocent."

"Lawyers?" Shawn asked. "You work fast." The four visitors exchanged a look. "What?" he asked.

"It's been four days," Gus admitted.

"What?" Shawn croaked.

"What do you expect, kid, you were stabbed in the throat," Henry grumbled. "You're lucky you're alive! Your jugular vein was nicked and your larynx was pierced. That's your voice box, kiddo, so the more you talk the worse it'll get."

"You only got into a stable condition two days ago. The doctors are already astounded by your improvement," Gus said as a confirmation.

"Four days?" Shawn asked, the others nodded in confirmation. In the back of his mind, Shawn was aware that his heart rate was increasing. The beeping start to speed up, as did his breathing.

"Shawn?" Juliet asked in worry.

"I'm fine," Shawn meant to say, but no voice came out. The others looked concerned, but accepted it.

The door to Shawn's room opened revealing a man in scrubs and a long white coat; his doctor. Suddenly, a woman was in view, calling out.

"Wait, wait, Doctor, wait," she insisted. The doctor turned back and sighed.

"Ma'am, I told you, family only for now," was all he said before turning back towards the room.

"Wait, no" she cried desperately. "Shawn!" she screamed. "Daniel's gone! Shawn!"

"Ria?" Shawn mumbled in confusion.

The door closed ending her cries. The doctor approached his bed. "Sorry about her," he said. "I'm Dr. Greggory Lewis. I heard from the nurses that you were awake, I thought I'd do a vitals check."

"Wait, doc," Shawn interrupted and turned towards the others. "What's going on? Where's Daniel?" his throat hurt like hell, but he didn't care. He needed answers.

"Shawn, please, your throat – " the doctor tried.

"No!" Shawn yelled, or at least, tried to yell. He ignored his burning throat and continued. "Where's Daniel?" he asked forcefully.

The others were silent. It was Juliet who finally spoke up, "We don't know," she admitted. "You told Edward that he ran away. We've sent out search parties, but nothing yet."

They could all hear the monitors pick up the pace. His heart was pounding fast.

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave," Dr. Lewis said. "I can't have you distressing my patient."

"All due respect, doctor, he's a consultant on our case – " Lassiter tried.

"He's my patient," Dr. Lewis interrupted. "Out, all of you. You can visit again in the morning."

It took more persuasion and an odd amount of pushing, but he did manage to usher the visitors out. He looked over Shawn's vitals and urged him to stop trying to talk. He and his throat needed rest. He recommended for Shawn to try to go back to sleep as he'd been through a lot already. With that, he left. Shawn was left on his own.

He thought about Daniel. He remembered what the others were telling him, he did distinctly remember telling Edward that Daniel had run, but why did that feel wrong? He thought hard and tried to remember everything. He remembered that Edward had broken into Maria's house, he remembered having to escape on his bike with Daniel, he remembered calling Juliet, and he remembered arriving at the office, but then what? Shawn's eyes widened. The closet!

Maria's words rang through his mind, _"_ _he takes orders literally, especially under stress"_. He would never leave that closet until Shawn told him to.

He cursed at himself for not remembering that at the time. Without even thinking, Shawn started getting ready to leave. He threw the covers off and pulled out his IV. It stung at first, but he ignored it. He then ripped off the heart monitor, which in turn sounded off an alarm. This didn't surprise him, but now he had to act fast. He looked under the hospital bed, remembering that sometimes doctors kept spare scrubs underneath. Sure enough, there were two spare pairs. He grabbed one and quickly put it on. He then ran out of his room and down the hall. Several nurses passed him as he ran, but didn't spare him a glance. He noticed them dive into his room, and so he ran faster. He raced down the stairs, through the lobby, and out the front doors.

Shawn was almost immediately disorientated once he had gotten out. He knew the street well, after all he had been there many times before, but for a second he couldn't remember how to get to the office. He blamed it on the blood loss. He closed his eyes and focused, and sure enough, the way soon came to him. He didn't care that he was in a paper thin scrubs, he didn't care that he didn't have any underwear on, and he sure as hell didn't care that he was barefoot. Daniel needed him. So, he took off running.

On an average day with normal traffic, it would take less than ten minutes to drive to the hospital. Shawn ran at full speed, taking every short cut imaginable. He crossed the roads dangerously and lost count of the amount of cars that honked at him. He didn't care, he never stopped running. It had been four days, who knew if the kid was even alive. The terrible thought dawned on Shawn and made him push even harder.

Shawn had been running for twenty five minutes, but at long last, he had arrived. There was yellow tape covering his front door. For a moment, it stunned him, but he moved on quickly. He tried the door knob, but he should have known it would have been locked. He pushed against the door, but it wouldn't budge. He slammed his body against it again and again. Finally, it creaked open. So, Shawn threw his body at the door one last time, and the door slammed open. He stumbled inside, actively ignoring the blood stain in font of him. _His_ blood stain. Instead, he sprinted for the closet. He threw the door open, and sure enough, there he was.

Little Daniel was curled up inside, the bike helmet still on his head with the latch undone.

"Daniel?" Shawn croaked. He shook the young boy's shoulder. "Daniel. Wake up. Please, oh God please, wake up…" he waited anxiously. For a while, the boy didn't move, and Shawn could feel his heart breaking. But finally, slowly but surely, Daniel pried his eyes open.

"Shawn?" he asked drowsily.

A big smile erupted on the psychic's face. He could have cried with relief. As it were, he did have to wipe a tear that threatened to fall from the corner of his eye.

"C'mon, kiddo," Shawn said, scooping up the boy. "Let's get you something to drink." He carried the kid to his couch. He sat him down and removed the bike helmet from his head. He then walked to the kitchen, filled a glass with water, and grabbed an apple from the fridge. He walked back to Daniel, whose eyes were starting to close. "Hey, kiddo, none of that," Shawn insisted. "Drink, eat. Please."

Daniel hesitantly took the glass of water and took a sip. Satisfied, Shawn turned back to the locker in the back. He got a change of clothes and quickly put on his jeans and shirt. He returned out after less than a minute, hoping to see at least half of the glass of water gone. Instead, he was greeted with Daniel's head resting on the armrest, his eyes half closed, and his cup of water tipped over.

"Daniel!" Shawn exclaimed and ran towards him. "Kiddo, come on, open your eyes for me." Daniel did, though he look as if he was still half asleep. "Kiddo?" Shawn placed a hand on Daniel's forehead and almost wanted to withdraw his hand. He was burning up.

"Kid?" Shawn called. Daniel looked up at him. "Do you know where we are?"

"At Ria's house?" Daniel guessed. Shawn's heart dropped. He knew what he had to do.

"C'mon, Daniel," Shawn picked up the kid carried him out the door. "Let's get you some help."

Despite the fact that he was still exhausted and despite the fact that he was now carrying a child as well, Shawn took off running again. He ran as fast as his legs would take him, but soon the world started swaying. He got more and more disorientated. After a while, he wasn't even sure how much longer he could stand on his own two feet. It was then that a taxi pulled up next to him and rolled down their window.

"Hey, what're you doing with that kid?" the driver asked.

"Taking him to the hospital," Shawn croaked

"You look like you could do with a hospital visit yourself," the driver remarked.

"I could," Shawn admitted.

The driver hesitated for a moment, then unlocked his door. "Get in."

"I don't have any money – "

"Yeah, no crap, you don't have any shoes either. Get in." Shawn stared at the driver for a second and then did as told. He opened the door and climbed in, holding Daniel close to him. As soon as the door closed, the car started driving again. "Sacred Heart Hospital?" the driver asked.

"That's right."

"Seven minutes."

Shawn didn't respond. He closed his eyes for what felt like a second, and next thing he knew, he was being shaken awake by the driver. He opened his eyes and looked out the window. Sure enough, they had arrived at the hospital. Shawn thanked the driver over and over before opening his door. He held Daniel tightly and stepped out of the taxi. He ran towards the entrance, through the front doors, and straight up to the receptionist's desk.

"He needs to see a doctor, right now," Shawn insisted, his voice more hoarse than ever.

"Sir, take a seat, you're – "

"No, I won't take a seat, he needs a doctor!" Shawn exclaimed. The force of it cause a coughing fit, which in turn sent a fire through his throat. Now that they were at the hospital, it seemed his recovering throat decided to remind him that it was in fact, still recovering. Who knew what kind of damage he had done to it after all that stress, the running and his quick breathing, and yes, even all the damned talking he had done. Shawn didn't care, so long as Daniel got help.

"Sir, are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Shawn insisted, his voice no louder than a whisper. "He needs help. He's spent the last four days without food or water, he can't keep his eyes open, and he's burning up. He _needs_ to see someone!"

The receptionist took one look at Daniel and immediately reached for her intercom. "Urgent call, Dr. Day and paediatrics team to reception, Dr. _Day_ to reception."

Not even a minute passed by and the reception had three new doctors, a stretcher in between them. They took Daniel from Shawn's arms and lay him down on the stretcher and rushed him through the halls. Shawn was so absorbed in making sure the kid was alright, he didn't even notice that the receptionist was trying to get his attention.

" _Sir_ ," she repeated.

"Sorry, what?"

"Are you the boy's father?"

"No… no I'm… I work for the police, his parents were killed and he's been missing for the past couple of days."

The receptionist looked stunned for a second but recovered quickly. "What's his name? Date of birth? Any allergies?"

"Thomas Butch," he answered immediately, but then remembered. "No, sorry, it's Daniel. Daniel Brookes. He's eight years old, I don't know about allergies, but Ria will know." Shawn started coughing again. Answering these questions was really taking a toll on him.

"Who's Ria?"

"Maria Matthews," Shawn answered, but no voice came out. He made a motion for a pen and paper, and the receptionist gave it to him. He wrote down Maria's name and her phone number, which he still somehow remembered thanks to his photographic memory. "Call her," he said as loudly as he could, which only amounted to a small whisper.

"Sir, are you sure you're alright?" the receptionist asked. Shawn nodded, but she gave him a look up and down anyways. "Sir… are you aware that you're bleeding?"

"What?" Shawn asked and looked down. Sure enough, there was a large blood stain running down his collar and going through the rest of his shirt like a persistent leak. He put a hand to his neck and immediately felt the warm liquid. Looking at his hand gave him all the confirmation he needed that he had opened up the stitches in his neck. "Oh, that sucks, I really liked this shirt…" At the sight of the blood, and with the knowledge that Daniel was now being taken care of, all the adrenaline which had been working through his system started to wear off. He felt extremely exhausted, the room was spinning, and his vision was blurring around the edges. In fact, he was pretty sure he was going to pass out.

"Sir?"

With the last bit of energy Shawn had, he rolled up his sleeve to reveal the hospital band that had been strapped on when he was admitted.

"Here's my hospital ID," he croaked. "I imagine there are a couple pissed off people looking for me."

And then he fainted.


	14. Epilogue

**Hello lovelys!**

 **This marks the end of the fic! I hope you've all enjoyed it, I've loved writing it! I realise I haven't really included much of Gus or Lassie in this fic, but I'm not that surprised. It was always meant to be a story about Shawn and Daniel, that's why I didn't have Shules in it. Anyways, hope you enjoyed!**

 **I'm so sorry for the delay in getting this last chapter up! Basically, I wasn't happy with my epilogue and so I wanted to fix it, but something kept coming up. Anyways, I won't bore you with excuses, it's finally up! Thanks for all the support so far! Please let me know what you think!**

* * *

Three weeks later

It was the day of the funeral. It had taken a while to plan it, much longer than most were willing to wait, but it had to take that long. There was still an active investigation, after all. Shawn had only found out about the funeral a few days prior. Maria had wanted to tell him as soon as the date was set, but Shawn's friends _and_ the doctors refused. He had already caused so much stress on his already weak body, the last thing they needed was for him to get worked up again.

Once Shawn had returned to the hospital after finding Daniel, he was put on stretcher and brought straight to an operating room. Juliet, Lassiter, Gus, and Henry, yet again, had to stay in the waiting room, anxiously hoping for everything to be fine. It was a routine procedure, thankfully. The stress of running had caused stitches to tear and his healing wound to open up, but there was no lasting damage. He was brought to his same room, hooked up to the heart rate monitor, and given an IV again. It was then decided by Henry and the doctors that Shawn was to be given twenty-four hour supervision. They would take it in shifts, sometimes Henry would stay the night, and sometimes Gus would. Juliet offered to stay a night, even Lassiter did.

Shawn was simply restless throughout. He kept asking for news on Daniel, but no one was allowed to tell him under strict rules of Dr. Lewis. He hadn't even heard from Maria, which worried Shawn to no end. He needed to know if the kid was alright. Instead, all he was given was lecture after lecture, on how stupid he was for running out of the hospital. Now they'd have to keep him in for longer to look out for infection. As it was, he stayed in the hospital for seven days. When he was finally released, Shawn made no movement to go home, despite Dr. Lewis' insistence on rest, after all his throat was still recovering. Instead, he went straight to the reception of the very same hospital and asked for Daniel Brookes' room. The woman simply apologised and said there was no person by that name in the hospital.

Gus insisted that Shawn went with him, his car was parked just outside. But Shawn refused. He refused to move a single inch until someone told him what had happened to Daniel. Gus frowned and promise everything would be explained. Shawn had been reluctant, but eventually followed his friend. They got in his car and drove off.

It was fifteen minutes into their drive that Shawn realised they weren't going home. He had questioned Gus, but his friend said nothing. Eventually, they arrived at a carpark of another hospital. They exited the car, and on Gus's request, _leisurely_ made their way to the entrance. Gus already knew the room number and lead the way. When they arrived, he pushed open the door and held it open. Shawn walked through and saw them immediately.

Maria was sitting on a chair, and smiled at Shawn as he walked in. Daniel was sitting upright on his bed, his smile bigger than ever and his eyes bright like a light. Shawn had wanted to run into them, but Gus put a restraining hand on his shoulder, reminding him to take it easy. So, he instead walked towards them and embraced the two people he came to care about.

For the first three days after Shawn had brought him to the hospital, he was in critical condition. The others hadn't wanted to worry Shawn, so they opted not to tell him as the kid's fate and prognosis was still not known. His condition deteriorated on the fourth day, and he was transported to a specialised children's hospital. On the sixth day, he started to get better, and on the seventh day he woke up. Gus visited every moment of every day that he wasn't with Shawn and ended up becoming very close with Maria. Even on that first day seeing them interact with each other, Shawn could tell his friend had a crush.

Shawn spent the whole day with Daniel and Maria. He voice was hoarse, and Gus would insist that he stopped talking for even a minute, but Shawn just kept trying to entertain the kid. Daniel laughed and Shawn smiled for the first time in a while, which more than made up for his strained throat. After that day, Shawn was encouraged to visit Daniel more as the doctors found it immensely improved both of their conditions. So he did, but there was still no mention of a funeral. Nor was there any mention of Edward Lynne's trial. They didn't want to stress either of them and intervene with the amazing progress they were making.

The first hearing took place five days after Gus had taken Shawn to Daniel in the children's hospital. Shawn only found out the next day when Lassiter accidentally let it slip. He had said something along the lines of 'he was glad the system wasn't going to let him down again'. Bail for Edward had been set at fifty thousand, which he could not afford. He was to be trialed for two counts of murder in the first degree, and this was on top of his charges for a violating his restraining order for Daniel, and one count of assault in the first degree for Shawn. No matter how the trial went, Edward was going to jail for at least another fifteen years with no chance for parole. Their hope now was that the sentence would be increased to life in jail. As for Larry Cook, he was taking unpaid vacation time to sort out his gambling problem, at the insistence of his chief of police. Seeing as the gambling he took part in was technically legal, he had no idea what Edward was up to, _and_ since Larry agreed to testify in court, no criminal charges were filed.

Two days later, Maria heard wonderful news that she would in fact become Daniel's legal guardian. A day after that, Daniel was released from the hospital. Shawn visited immediately and the first thing they did was watch the next _Star Wars_ film that Daniel had wanted to see so long ago. Two days later, almost three weeks since Daniel was found and brought to the hospital, Shawn was finally given a clean bill of health, though his voice might still be rough largely due to his inability to keep his mouth shut for more than a minute. That was also the day that Maria asked him to come to the funeral. Daniel was going to watch his parents be buried and she wanted him to have Shawn's support. He, of course, agreed.

The next day came much too soon and it was time for the funeral. Shawn and Maria stood side by side dressed in black. Daniel stood in front of them in a smart black suit. They watched as the caskets were lowered into the ground. Daniel didn't cry, but he never said a word. Not in the morning as they were getting ready, not to or from the ceremony, and not when they arrived home. In fact, the only words he spoke that day was when Maria called him to dinner, and he responded, "I'm not hungry," before going to bed.

Shawn showed up at the house the next day, hoping to get Daniel to talk again. Maria let him in and he went straight to the old guest bedroom, which was now the kid's personal room. He was sitting on the edge of his bed, when Shawn walked in. He didn't even acknowledge the presence of another person.

"Hey, kiddo," Shawn greeted. Daniel looked at him, then looked back down. "How're you holding up?" Daniel didn't respond. "Yeah, I wouldn't have answered either. It's a stupid question, isn't it? Listen, I can only imagine what you're feeling right now. I'm sorry I can't be of more help, really, I am, but I will always be here for you. No matter what you want to talk about."

"They're really gone," Daniel said softly. "I knew they were gone, but now they're _really_ gone. They won't ever come back."

"No," Shawn agreed. He figured he might as well be honest. "But that doesn't mean you'll be alone. That doesn't mean you've lost them. They were part of your life, they loved you very much, and you loved them. As long as you remember them and remember the love they felt for you, then they'll never really leave you."

"I don't want to remember," Daniel admitted. "It makes me sad. And it hurts."

"That's to be expected," Shawn said. "But one day, you'll be able to look back at those memories without pain. One day, you'll look back at those memories and be able to feel the love they felt for you all over again. And you'll be thankful that you kept them so close."

Daniel looked up at Shawn. "It's hard."

"I know. And you're doing _extremely_ well. You're being very brave and very strong. They would be proud."

"How do you know?"

"Because I'm proud of you. And Maria is proud of you. And because you know it yourself, your parents were only ever happy when you were happy. That's just how parents are."

"So they want me to be happy?"

"Yes."

"I'm not happy right now."

"And that's okay. No one's expecting you to be happy right away, just as long as you don't let this get in the way of your life."

Daniel nodded and looked away. "What about the bad man?"

They still hadn't told him who the 'bad man' was. They figured they'd wait until he was older. "He's going away," Shawn assured him. "Just like I promised."

"You also promised I'd speak with that nice detective," Daniel noted.

"And I kept that promise."

"And you promised you'd stay with me…"

"I'm here, aren't I?"

"You've kept all of your promises," Daniel concluded.

Shawn smiled, "Yes."

"Can you promise me something else?"

"That depends…"

"I don't want you to disappear. I don't want you to leave like mommy or daddy. Please... don't leave."

"I'm not going to leave you, Daniel. I'm going to stay by your side for as long as you want me around, okay? I'll visit as often as you want me to. In fact, I'll be around so much that Ria will be sick of me."

"Promise?" Daniel held out his pinkie.

Shawn smiled and wrapped his pinkie around the kid's, "I promise."

 **The End**


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